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Dec 05 2024
Data Center

Law Enforcement Agencies Follow Different Paths to Optimize Their Data Centers

Both on-premises and cloud solutions can produce efficient results for first responders.

In 2022, law enforcement agents at the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) issued citations and dispatchers logged calls the same way they did in the 1970s: with pen and paper.

Since then, the department’s Law Enforcement Division has modernized its operations, first by issuing notebook computers and handheld devices to its 210 officers, then by implementing a computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system, records management system (RMS) and e-citations software.

Today, everything is digitized. For the first time, dispatchers can see officer locations on a map. Instead of manually writing paper tickets, agents can issue citations with an Android handheld and mobile printer and write and file reports on their Dell laptops, says Maj. Dean Aucoin II of the LDWF Law Enforcement Division.

Louisiana and its software vendor implemented the law enforcement applications as part of a multiyear digital transformation project made possible in part by the state’s robust IT infrastructure.

“We’ve come a long way, putting these tools in our officers’ and dispatchers’ hands,” Aucoin says. “It streamlined things big time.”

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Many local and state governments have modernized and optimized their IT infrastructure to improve government services, and that includes ensuring law enforcement agencies have access to critical resources 24/7 and can share data when required.

Government IT leaders are deploying a mix of new data center hardware, virtualization software and cloud services to improve law enforcement workflow and communication and to support mobile applications in vehicles and body-worn cameras. It all improves officer safety and productivity and public safety services to citizens.

Governments can take different IT approaches. Some communities, such as the city of Allen, Texas, have upgraded their on-premises data centers to bolster public safety. Allen installed new hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) equipment to run new CAD, RMS and mobile software on-premises.

Meanwhile, Louisiana deploys a hybrid cloud solution for its law enforcement needs. The state has combined a Software as a Service (SaaS) application with its own existing hybrid cloud infrastructure.

READ MORE: Governments strengthen services with data center optimization.

State Agencies Adopt a Shared Services Model

Louisiana began optimizing its IT infrastructure 10 years ago when it consolidated agency IT departments and created the Office of Technology Services (OTS) to provide shared, hosted services to agencies, says Louisiana state CTO Jeremy Deal.

OTS centralized IT operations into two data centers and uses Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services and other cloud services to grow infrastructure as needed and serve as backup for disaster recovery, he says.

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About five years ago, the organization modernized its data centers with Dell VxRail HCI equipment running VMware virtualization software and is currently upgrading the hardware as part of its normal upgrade cycle.

As a result, Louisiana maintains a redundant and scalable private cloud that’s available to host agency applications as needed on-premises or in a third-party cloud, Deal says.

“When we look at capacity requirements, there’s plenty of availability for us to take on projects without requiring a hardware acquisition,” he says.

LEARN MORE: Cybersecurity grants fund shared services for localities.

Digitized Operations Extend Data Access in the Field

The LDWF Law Enforcement Division equipped its officers with laptops and handhelds in 2022. Then it went live with CAD, RMS and e-citations software in 2023.

The state chose a vendor that operates its applications in Azure. While it’s a SaaS product, the state’s overall solution requires OTS data center resources to manage the new endpoint devices and to provide users a seamless experience and access to important law enforcement data, Deal says.

The vendor connected its cloud applications to Louisiana’s on-premises state systems and databases through a secure virtual private network and application programming interfaces, he says.

Maj. Dean Aucoin II
It allows officers to be in the field more, to interact with the public and be there for their public safety needs.”

Maj. Dean Aucoin II Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Law Enforcement Division

Now, when officers log into their mobile devices, they can access the apps and data they need, including checking databases to verify that people have registered their boats and have hunting and fishing licenses.

“Our officers can run license compliance checks and not have to call dispatch,” Aucoin says.

Overall, the technology has improved officer safety, productivity and accountability, Aucoin says. The CAD system logs all calls electronically. Supervisors can click on incidents and see a record of everything that transpired. Dispatchers can make sure every call is assigned and resolved, he says.

Previously, officers wrote reports on office or personal computers at the end of their shifts, printed them out and delivered them to their lieutenants for review. It sometimes took four to six weeks before citations were put into a computer system and sent to a district attorney’s office or civil court.

With an electronic workflow, officers can immediately write and file reports in their vehicles, and citations can be routed to court or a DA’s office the same day, Aucoin says. The division, which plans to adopt body cameras in early 2025, can also run real-time reports, which was impossible in the past.

“We are more efficient,” he says. “It allows officers to be in the field more, to interact with the public and be there for their public safety needs.”

EXPLORE: New Orleans expands call center capabilities with cloud.

Some Agencies Turn to HCI for IT Modernization

Analyst Matt Kimball of Moor Insights & Strategy says HCI equipment is a good, cost-effective, easy-to-use data center solution for budget-conscious local and state governments.

HCI combines servers, storage, networking and virtualization software into a small-footprint appliance. The integrated system, which is managed through a centralized software tool, is simple to deploy, manage and scale, which helps ease IT skills gaps or staff shortages that governments might have, he says.

“HCI is a great enabler,” Kimball says. “It removes complexity. You’ve got push-button upgrades and push-button provisioning, utilization and deployment. All of that simplicity comes with HCI.”

DISCOVER: Here are three factors in adopting hyperconverged infrastructure.

The city of Allen, Texas replaced its antiquated servers with new Nutanix HCI equipment and software for those very reasons, says Aaron Irwin, the city’s systems administrator.

“We wanted to do more with less,” he says.

In 2020, the city’s 18 physical servers were 7 to 9 years old, and only a few were virtualized. At the same time, its public safety applications for police, fire and animal control were up for renewal. Allen wanted to upgrade to new software and build four separate data center environments for testing, training, production and disaster recovery.

33%

The percentage of law enforcement agencies that say keeping technology up to date is among their top three concerns

Source: thomsonreuters.com, “The Future of Law Enforcement Rests in Its Technology Investment,” Oct. 16, 2023

Without virtualization, the project would require 60 to 70 new physical servers, which the city couldn’t afford, Irwin says. The IT department decided to go all in on HCI and virtualization, so it can meet its server and storage needs with less hardware and at a lower cost, he says.

That year, the city purchased nine Nutanix HCI nodes running on Nutanix HCI software, which includes server virtualization, to run the new CAD, RMS and mobile software.

Since then, the city has expanded to 15 HCI nodes to house other city department applications and data, and today, 11 nodes in its main data center run 135 virtual machines, 70 for public safety. The other four nodes are at a secondary site, running 35 public safety VMs for disaster recovery.

Through a single dashboard, the IT staff can centrally manage data center operations. They can optimize the use of server and storage resources and spin up VMs to test apps and spin them down when they’re done. They can also update firmware and add nodes with minimal to no downtime.

“It’s made us much more efficient,” Irwin says. “It’s also easier management, faster deployment and gives us more flexibility with testing.”

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