Situation
Cedar Hill, TX, is located 16 miles southwest of Downtown Dallas and has a population of roughly 50,000, protected by a police force of 71 officers. The city’s crime rate was slightly above the U.S. average (3-4%) and primarily focused on non-violent and property crimes. Like many police agencies, Cedar Hill Police Department (CHPD) used traditional communications methods including text on social apps, email, and laptop-equipped patrol cars.
In early 2019, Chief Ely Reyes joined the CHPD, with an understanding that the department had a need for enhanced communications through smartphones and a secure system for communicating with his team. Implementing an electronically secure and compliant communications system became a top priority.
Problem
CHPD, like many police agencies, was experiencing one of the biggest operational challenges for police departments around the country — sharing critical information quickly while adhering to state and federal compliance requirements. Public messaging apps (like WhatsApp, Slack, or Teams) fail to meet the strict security guidelines required by CJIS, FOIA, and HIPAA. This, often unknowingly, opens up individuals and organizations to potential civil violations.
In addition, CHPD’s operational efficiencies were suffering due to slowdowns caused by using outdated fax systems, emails, and phone tags, as well as heavy radio chatter distracting officers out in the field.
Chief Reyes had spearheaded an initiative to implement Evertel at his previous agency and knew that the decision to adopt Evertel as the CHPD communication tool of choice was obvious. He understood the potential and knew it would serve his team better than all previous systems.
Solutions
Genasys Evertel, a secure messaging platform, enables police departments to instantly align their processes for greater efficiency and state/federal compliance, whether personnel are using computers or smart devices. Evertel is readily adopted by team members due to its similarities to a typical texting platform but is built to accommodate all state and federal records retention requirements.
By creating multiple chatrooms within Evertel, supervisors can coordinate assignments and make sure each party has access to information at a moment’s notice. This keeps day-to-day operations organized and everyone on the same page with instant updates. Chat rooms can even be used to inform the public or media during critical events.
Whether a supervisor or officer is at his or her desk or on the go with a smartphone, the system is secure and creates a faster way to stay informed and get messages out up and down the chain of command. Evertel’s dedicated chat rooms are much easier to check than email and allow faster on-the-scene investigations and deployments.
Additionally, Evertel facilitates a “quality control” option as a convenient solution for accountability and compliance. All records of conversations are stored in the cloud and can be compiled, reviewed, and released as needed to meet legal obligations or monitor internal investigations and usage.
Results
With Evertel, CHPD personnel work more efficiently by receiving updates instantly, right on their phones. During the big ice storm in Texas at the start of 2021, Cedar Hill put all EOC communications directly on the platform. Whether in the morning or evening, they could simply pick up their smart phone before their shift and check up on everything that happened while they were away.
“Each patrol shift has a room,” said Chief Reyes. “Our CID has a room, and we have a supervisor room. The traffic sergeant also has a room to put out directed patrols. Everyone can scroll through the messages and learn what’s happened and what to expect as soon as they start their shift.”
Over time the department has been able to expand and adapt how they use Evertel to make it even more effective. For CHPD, users can quickly disseminate straightforward information to impacted personnel, fellow agencies, or the public, making their policing efforts more effective and organized.
