San Francisco Police Department saves officers hundreds of hours per month with Microsoft Power Platform

The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) is dedicated to serving the residents of San Francisco, California, as efficiently and compassionately as possible. One of the challenges that it has faced is preventing unnecessary police interactions with owners taking home their stolen vehicles after they have been recovered. The department needed a solution that would make it possible to enter returned vehicles into the system instantaneously so that officers would not waste time working with outdated information. 

SFPD turned to Microsoft technology, which it was already using for several internal processes. “We already had access to Microsoft Power Platform, so to me it was a no-brainer to continue using it,” says William Sanson-Mosier, Chief Information Officer of SFPD. The department decided to use the low-code and AI-driven tools in Microsoft Power Platform to develop an app for reporting returned vehicles. Since deploying this app, SFPD has saved hours of officer driving time and reduced department costs. 

Realizing the need for a vehicle status reporting solution with Microsoft technology

Since its inception in the mid-nineteenth century, SFPD has been serving the public of one of the largest cities in the United States. In 2016, a US Department of Justice review^[1] made SFPD aware that it was working from outdated technology that led to delays or errors in its service and the erosion of public trust. In response, it embarked on a journey to improve both internal and public-facing processes using technology. 

As part of this journey, the department sought to improve the way its officers reported the return of stolen vehicles, of which there are thousands each year. In the past, when an officer recovered a stolen vehicle, they would return it to its rightful owner or have it towed. Then, the officer would begin a lengthy reporting process: “Once you get through traffic and back to the station, you have to type a police report, which could take 15 minutes to an hour, then fax it to the operations center,” says Seamus Jensen, Officer at SFPD. “The center would take another 10 minutes to update that information, so it ultimately could take up to two hours to get a vehicle out of the system.”

This delay led to distressing traffic stops when other officers believed a car to be stolen while unaware that it had already been reclaimed by its owner. “Owners could drive 50 miles from San Francisco and get pulled over for a traffic violation only to find out their own car is still listed as stolen,” says Jensen. SFPD knew that this problem needed to be solved and decided to use the Microsoft technology it already had to create a solution.

Building an app to save officers time and reduce department costs

In late 2022, SFPD began building an app with Microsoft Power Apps to help officers report recovered vehicles more quickly. The goal was to make it possible to update a vehicle’s status in the field. In doing so, officers could avoid spending hours driving back to the station to update the status while that vehicle was already in the hands of its owner. Power Platform offered a low-code solution that made it easy to design an app that officers could use in the field while still maintaining compliance with security and regulatory standards.

SFPD worked closely with Microsoft, which provided guidance and support based on its experience working with SFPD and other public agencies. Ultimately, SFPD created an effective app within a few months. “We were trying to do this as expeditiously and efficiently as possible,” says Sanson-Mosier. “Microsoft support made that possible for us.” 

Updating stolen vehicle records in 98% less time

By the end of 2022, SFPD had developed and begun to release an app called RESTVOS (Returning Stolen Vehicle to Owner System) that could be installed on officers’ smartphones. Officers have been quickly adapting to the new process. “Since we launched, there have been 160 total RESTVOS records, and 73 officers have used it,” says Andrew Bley, Crime Intelligence Analyst at SFPD. With RESTVOS, officers can instantly remove a vehicle from the system and complete the remaining paperwork when it’s more convenient.

Officers use the app to update recovered vehicle information in near real-time, reducing the time it takes to remove a vehicle from the system by up to 98%—from two hours to two minutes—and saving an estimated 500 officer hours per month. In San Francisco, traffic is dense enough that it can take officers 45 minutes to travel two miles, leading to hours spent driving back to the station to report recovered vehicles. Now, officers can spend those hours performing other duties, reducing costs for the department and increasing officer efficiency.

Officers now see updated information on stolen cars right away, preventing confusion for owners trying to take their recovered cars home. “With this new application, it’s out of the system in two minutes, so the registered owner feels some sense of security that they’re not going to get pulled over,” says Jensen. 

Creating more time-saving solutions with Power Platform

In addition to building an app to save officer hours and increase public trust, SFPD is using Power Platform to support its internal processes. It has also used Microsoft Power Pages, a website design tool, and Microsoft SharePoint, a content management solution, to create a public-facing forum where the public can comment on Department General Orders (the department’s internal rules) before those orders are put into effect. This solution has helped SFPD connect more closely with the public it serves. 

In the future, SFPD intends to use Power Platform to track internal orders and cases, manage workflows, and make its public service more efficient and effective. “I’ve been really impressed with everything we can do so far with Power Apps,” says Sanson-Mosier. “I’m hoping there is more to come to support the public in many important ways.”

^[1] “Police Reform,” San Franciso Police Department, accessed February 13, 2024, https://www.sanfranciscopolice.org/your-sfpd/police-reform.