With a renewed focus on building better relationships between police and their communities, 21st century policing has led law enforcement agencies across the country to reevaluate how they operate. Establishing law enforcement's role in community safety is not easy while managing changing expectations of transparency, critical staffing shortages, and rapid technological advancements.
As your department rises to meet these challenges, your key control practices should evolve accordingly. Start by remembering these three T’s: transparency, turnover, and technology.
As the public’s perception of policing changes, transparency builds trust with your community. However, it’s important for your behind-the-scenes processes to support your culture of transparency and accountability.
It’s important for your behind-the-scenes processes to support your culture of transparency and accountability.
For example, a department might demonstrate its commitment to transparency by publishing its policies and practices. But process breakdowns that don’t align with those principles and best practices will damage the public’s trust in the department. Consider these scenarios:
Scenario 1
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Scenario 2
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Complete transparency and accountability require a comprehensive approach that spans from high-level policies to daily operations. To that end, maintaining an audit trail of how staff use keys, radios, weapons, and other equipment helps ensure officers are using keys and other assets appropriately. If any incidents occur, you’ll have documentation to help with investigating the issue.
Law enforcement staffing has reached critically low — even dangerous — levels across the nation. According to the Police Executive Research Forum, agencies face a triple threat of fewer applicants, more resignations, and looming retirements.
Considering these challenges, it's crucial to implement a key control process that can withstand personnel changes, using the following guidelines.
Having written procedures helps new employees understand expectations and ensures consistency in key control practices. Regularly review and update your policies and practices to adapt to changing needs and challenges.
With a streamlined key control process, personnel will be able to focus on their core duties, even as people come and go.
In the 21st century, technology has become integral to everyone’s lives. That means more crimes are committed online and more aspects of law enforcement involve advanced equipment, so today’s police officers must be comfortable with technology.
As younger, tech-savvy officers join the force, they expect seamless technology and are quick to leave roles that rely on outdated, inefficient processes. As such, they might be frustrated with manual processes like filling out key logs.
As younger, tech-savvy officers join the force, they expect seamless technology and are quick to leave roles that rely on outdated, inefficient processes.
Using electronic key control instead of outdated manual processes saves time, reduces errors, and prevents significant disruptions. When implementing a key control solution, take advantage of the following capabilities.
By automatically authenticating employees and recording who removes a key, when, and why, you’ll reduce the administrative burden of the key control process.
Electronic key control systems can restrict access to specific keys based on specific job responsibilities to reduce the risk of unauthorized use or theft.
To help you respond quickly to potential issues, key control systems can send automated reports to key control officers or command staff. If a key is overdue or has been accessed outside of a designated time frame, the system can send a text or email alert.
Frequent key audits help you ensure all keys are accounted for and properly documented. Electronic key control systems allow you to quickly run key control reports, saving you hours of sorting through manual records and counting keys.
If your key control system has the option for electronic locker modules, you can secure small items such as mobile devices, radios, or weapons, along with your keys. Just as you do with keys, set up access levels for each locker to ensure only authorized personnel are able to access assets.
With technology shaping modern policing, it’s important to embrace digital solutions for managing keys. By doing so, you can support tech-savvy officers in their roles, streamline operations, and enhance security.
In the modern era of law enforcement, an effective key control policy meets the demands of transparency, turnover, and technology. By empowering your personnel with streamlined processes, embracing technology, and upholding unwavering transparency, you’ll be well equipped to serve and protect your community.