The U.S. national average clearance rate for violent crime in 2019 was only 45 percent and just 17 percent for property crime.1 With the unprecedented increases in crime across the United States starting in 2020, higher caseloads, and more under-resourced departments, it is likely clearance rates will drop even further when next reported by the FBI.
How can law enforcement professionals reverse the trend during today’s challenging circumstances? The answer is the same as they’ve done in so many other areas—utilize technology to increase efficiency.
Police across the United States have modernized their processes with tools such as surveillance cameras, gunshot detection systems, automated license plate readers, body-worn cameras, drones, cruiser technology, and more. Investigative case management, a critical piece of solving crimes, shouldn’t be missing from this list. Investigative case management today has evolved, and its value and capability now rivals the remarkable success of these other technological advancements.2
There are now systems available that incorporate analytical and collaboration tools, new ways of reporting, and investigative workflow guidance and management. Diving deeper, these solutions include tools that consolidate all case-related data and evidence into a single, digital case folder, as well as tools that promise major improvements to an agency’s case management approach—and an investigative unit’s ability to improve clearance rates.
Approaches to Investigative Case Management
1. Manual Paper-Based Processes
Most agencies have matured beyond this approach, but those who haven’t favor manual case management for its familiarity. It’s “the way things have always been done.“
But the way things have always been done isn’t always the best way. Paper files are hard to manage and don’t provide much value, especially in an environment of escalating crime and fewer resources. It’s extremely difficult to correlate people, places, evidence, and cases to each other. This method is reliant on investigator memory and intuition—not a bad thing in and of itself, but it creates a dependency on personnel and their availability. It’s difficult to collaborate and requires investigators to hand over boxes of paper to prosecutors. Important pieces of information may literally slip through the cracks. Using manual paper-based processes always requires a significant time investment for everyone involved.
2. Homegrown or RMS Add-On Modules
The move away from paper has led many to develop homegrown systems or leverage RMS add-on modules for investigative case management.
In today’s day and age, it’s impossible to maintain compliant incident reports without some sort of electronic RMS. There’s a common misconception, though, that records management can double as case management. In fact, some RMS providers have actually tacked on case management modules that promise a lot, but fall short.
In all honesty, is the agency really using its RMS to run narcotics operations, track homicide cases, or manage intelligence and confidential informants? Usually, the answer is no, which is why most agencies end up reverting to some sort of hybrid workflow between their RMS for some tasks, homegrown systems like spreadsheets for others, and manual paper processes for the rest.
Agencies using RMS add-ons or a homegrown system know the good and the bad of those approaches. At least they have an agency-wide system to track incidents and view records. A good incident tracking system is certainly important.
But the cons are painful. RMS systems are typically rich with features for field-based reporting, but those are designed for patrol officers to report incident data. When it comes to detectives, the incident report is really just the beginning, and the functionality to manage investigations typically falls short of what’s needed. Case management (despite being the center of law enforcement operations) is not the central purpose of these systems. Collaboration tools for investigators are clunky, intelligence analysis is frankly impossible, and clearance rates are still nowhere near where they need to be.
In fact, it’s proven by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) that RMS is not well suited for the case management functionality required to improve clearance rates.3
3. Purpose-Built Case Management Systems
A purpose-built case management system is exactly what it sounds like: a case management system built specifically to help make law enforcement more efficient and effective, solve more crimes faster, and improve clearance rates.
The following features and functionality are simply not possible with homegrown and RMS add-ons—but are essential to delivering the results the case management system promises:
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- Structured and searchable digital case folder to organize and store everything for a case.
- Search and analytical tools to help detect relationships between people, places, and evidence to more quickly identify patterns and solve cases.
- Collaboration tools to share and receive alerts on new leads and investigative developments with co-workers, other departments, and the DA’s office.
- Pre-configured checklists of action items to help guide different types of investigations while still maintaining the flexibility to work the way the officers are used to.
- Real-time visibility and reporting for supervisors, so they can manage caseloads, assess the progress of investigations, and access the data they need to report out at briefings and inform command staff.
While this will end up being a separate system from the agency’s RMS, the best system will be able to integrate with the RMS, so all of the incident data reported by patrol in RMS can move directly to a case folder. It will require a commitment to implement a system like this, but that’s because it’s a new process. If agencies don’t implement new processes, that means they’re doing things the same way as before—and getting the same results. The time investment here is worth it because it will completely change the way investigators manage cases.
A Smarter Approach to Investigative Case Management
Most detectives and supervisors are simply unaware of the advancements that have been made in the field of investigative case management and the value those advancements can provide. Agencies large and small now have new options for investigators and supervisors to evaluate as a partnering tool for a fast investigation and successful prosecution, and they are encouraged to explore the options and capabilities now available.
Michael Cunningham has more than 27 years of experience with the New York City Police Department and achieved the rank of detective first grade. He is author of the book Crime Scene Management: A Path Forward. He is currently operations director for the ShotSpotter Investigate case management team and stays active in the industry, instructing courses in forensics and response to terrorist incidents.
| ShotSpotter, Inc. is a leader in precision policing technology solutions that enable law enforcement to more effectively respond to, investigate, and deter crime. The company’s ShotSpotter Investigate™ solution is a purpose-built automated case management tool for detectives and investigative supervisors. It’s helping cities achieve higher clearance rates by making the investigative process more efficient and effective. ShotSpotter’s products are trusted by more than 100 U.S. cities to help save lives, deter crime, and make their communities safer. |
Notes:
1FBI, Crime in the United States 2019, Table 25: Percent of Offenses Clear by Arrest or Exceptional Means, 2019.
2Nola M. Joyce, “Technology and Police Operations,” National Police Foundation blog.
3Review of The Chicago Police Department’s Homicide Investigation Process: Observations and Recommendations (PERF/BJA, 2019).
