Creating safer communities through cloud technology
Public safety is top of mind as police executives attend this month’s fortieth annual Law Enforcement Information Management (LEIM) Training Conference and Technology Exposition. Hosted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the conference brings together law enforcement professionals from around the world to discuss how advanced technology can save lives and improve public safety.
We at Microsoft are excited to participate in the conference and demonstrate the many ways our cloud platform can help make communities safer. With its emphasis on security and its broad range of compliance certifications, Microsoft Azure Government is driving a wide array of solutions that are reducing crime. Here are a couple of examples that we and our partners will showcase at the upcoming LEIM conference:
- Community on Patrol (COP) application: Built on Microsoft Azure Government and developed together with the Miami-Dade Police Department and Zco Corporation, the COP app increases communication between citizens and police to make communities safer. Using their smartphones, citizens can report crimes—complete with video, photos, and notes—to police as they happen. They can also view maps of sex offender locations and other public safety information, and automatically notify emergency dispatchers of their exact location when placing 911 calls. In addition, public safety officials can communicate with citizens, sending emergency notifications about weather threats and other public safety concerns directly to users. Says Detective Richard Adams of the Miami-Dade County Police Department, “We believe it will bridge the gap between community and police.… [It’s] a great application that will allow our citizens and our police department and the municipalities within our county to be able to collaborate more.”
- TASER’s Evidence.com: Microsoft partner TASER International will show how it is combining its Axon and Evidence.com solution with the Microsoft Azure cloud platform and Windows 10 devices to deliver next-generation evidence management technologies and secure cloud infrastructure to law enforcement agencies across the globe. Specifically, the solution enables law enforcement officials to capture and manage video, sensor data and other evidence, and securely share it via the cloud with the right criminal justice officials as criminal cases move from the street to the courtroom. As TASER Founder and CEO Rick Smith puts it: “Microsoft Azure is well known for its industry-leading security and reliability and, with it, we can provide the most secure and compliant cloud capability to our customers.”
Since launching Microsoft Azure Government a year and a half ago, we’re continuing our commitment to make the Microsoft cloud even more secure for government. For example, Microsoft last year became the first major cloud platform contractually committed to meeting the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) security requirements for federal, state, and local governments and we now have CJIS agreements in place with 12 states. And Azure Government is excited to be one of the first service providers to participate in a Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) High Pilot to build the High Impact Baseline. We have completed the pilot process and successfully submitted for a High Impact Provisional Authority to Operate (P-ATO) for our Azure Government environment, which would allow us to work with federal agencies to host sensitive data at the high impact level. Investments such as these demonstrate our ongoing commitment to help justice and public safety customers meet the most stringent levels of security, privacy, and compliance.
To learn more about how the Microsoft cloud is transforming government, please see our interactive map showing how state and local governments across the United States are using Microsoft technology to improve their efficiency and effectiveness. Also, if you’re planning to attend the LEIM Conference, be sure to see Jeff King, principal solution architect at Microsoft, describe how the COP app is helping to create safer communities. The presentation, “Community on Patrol app: Fight Terrorism, Reduce Crime, and Improve Public Safety,” will be held from 8 to 9 AM Central Time on Wednesday, May 25.
We hope to see you there!
