Digital Policing: Connecting Residents, Officers, and Leadership Through Real-Time GIS
Digital Policing: Connecting Residents, Officers, and Leadership Through Real-Time GIS
Abstract
Managing vacation watches, overnight parking requests, directed patrols, special events, and community programs through a legacy system created operational challenges for the Buffalo Grove Police Department. Information was spread across multiple processes, limiting visibility for officers and creating administrative overhead for staff. The department sought to replace its existing Frontline software with a more modern solution that could capture and display operational information for both officers and leadership. This session explores how Buffalo Grove implemented a GIS-based operations platform using Survey123, ArcGIS Dashboards, and Power Automate to centralize public safety programs into a single operational view. Residents submit requests through public-facing forms, while officers review, manage, and update activities through an internal dashboard enhanced with automated approvals, notifications, and police-beat-based workflows. Attendees will learn how the department replaced a legacy application with a connected, map-driven system that improves situational awareness, streamlines administrative processes, and provides faster access to actionable information for field personnel and command staff. The session offers practical lessons for agencies looking to modernize police operations while improving service delivery and community engagement.