Philip Prins, Genasys Evertel
Key Takeaways:
- Email lacks the speed, accountability, compliance, and visibility required for modern internal police communications.
- Overreliance on email contributes to missed information, delayed response, and message fatigue in law enforcement operations.
- Purpose built platforms like Genasys Evertel® support timely, reliable communications for law enforcement and local governments.
Email remains one of the most heavily relied upon tools in internal police communications. It is familiar, inexpensive, and deeply embedded in government workflows. Yet familiarity does not equal suitability. As law enforcement operations grow more complex, distributed, and time sensitive, email has quietly become a liability rather than a solution.
Recent reporting from major news outlets covering missed threat indicators, delayed internal alerts, and breakdowns in communications during fast moving incidents highlights a recurring theme. Information was available, but it did not reach the right people at the right time. In many of these cases, email was part of the failure.
The False Sense of Security Created by Email
Email creates an illusion of communication without guaranteeing receipt, urgency, or action. Once a message is sent, the sender often assumes the job is done. In reality, email offers no assurance that a message has been seen, understood, or acted upon.
In internal police communications, this is a critical weakness. Officers are not sitting at desks refreshing inboxes. They are busy and mobile out on patrol, responding to calls, coordinating with fellow officers and the community. They operate in increasingly dynamic environments.
An email marked “urgent” may not be read for hours, if at all.
Unlike modern police communications tools, emails are problematic due to the lack of delivery confirmation, escalation logic, and situational awareness. Further complicating operational flow, email messages disappear into crowded inboxes alongside routine administrative notices, training reminders, and external correspondence. The result is message fatigue and missed signals.
Operational Tempo Has Outpaced Legacy Tools
High profile incidents covered in national and regional news repeatedly demonstrate that operational tempo now exceeds what email can support. Information arrives in bursts, conditions change quickly, and decisions must be made in minutes, not hours.
Email does not adapt to the pace of modern policing. It does not prioritize messages based on role, location, or assignment. And it does not integrate with other citywide communication tools used by local governments during emergencies.
As a result, agencies relying on email for internal police communications often experience fragmentation. Command staff believe information has been distributed. Field personnel remain unaware or receive it too late.
Information Overload and Accountability Gaps
Another growing challenge in police communications is volume. Agencies send more messages than ever before, often as a defensive measure to ensure information is “on record.” This creates inbox overload without improving clarity.
Email does not provide meaningful accountability. Read receipts can be disabled. Forwarding creates version control issues. Critical updates become buried beneath “reply all chains” and follow up clarifications.
In communications for local governments and law enforcement, accountability matters. Leaders need to know who received a message, who acknowledged it, and who still requires follow up. Email was not designed to support that level of operational visibility.
Why Modern Law Enforcement Needs Purpose Built Internal Communications
Effective internal police communications require speed, reach, redundancy, and confirmation. Messages must reach officers wherever they are, on the device they are using, and in a format that signals urgency when needed.
Modern law enforcement communications platforms are designed to support this reality. They allow agencies to segment audiences, escalate alerts, and ensure critical information does not compete with routine correspondence.
Toward the end of an incident review, agencies often ask the same question. How did the information break down? In many cases, the answer points back to overreliance on email.
Strengthening Internal Communications with Genasys Evertel®
As agencies evaluate alternatives, solutions such as Genasys Evertel® are increasingly used to support internal communications without replacing existing systems.
Evertel is designed to complement daily operations by providing secure, reliable messaging for law enforcement and emergency personnel. It supports targeted notifications, delivery confirmation, and mobile first communications that align with how officers work in the field.
Used alongside broader emergency communications tools, Evertel helps bridge the gap between administrative messaging and operational awareness. It enables communications in law enforcement that are timely, accountable, and integrated into a broader citywide communication strategy.
Importantly, Evertel is not just for major incidents. It supports day-to-day coordination, shift updates, internal advisories, and cross agency collaboration, all without relying on email as the primary channel.
Final Thoughts
Email will not disappear from police departments, nor should it. It remains useful for documentation and non-urgent correspondence. The danger lies in treating it as a primary tool for internal police communications.
As policing continues to evolve, agencies must align their communications strategies with operational reality. Purpose built platforms that prioritize reach, speed, and accountability are no longer optional. They are essential.
Contact Genasys to schedule a demo and find a solutions that directly impacts safety, efficiency, and trust within law enforcement organizations.
