7 Ways Criminal Investigations Benefit From Technology

Tyler Podcast Episode 24, Transcript

Our Tyler Technologies podcast explores a wide range of complex, timely, and important issues facing communities and the public sector. Expect approachable tech talk mixed with insights from subject matter experts and a bit of fun. Host and Content Marketing Director Jeff Harrell – and other guest hosts – highlights the people, places, and technology making a difference. Give us listen today and subscribe.

Episode Summary

It often dominates the headlines. Modern criminals, cyber and otherwise, are using modern ways to conduct crime. So here’s the problem we are looking at in this episode: if modern criminals are more sophisticated than ever, how can federal law enforcement use technology to keep us safe? Well, to help us answer that question, we turn to Skip Bland, a development executive, with Tyler Technologies.

Transcript

Skip Bland: It's so important for IT departments within federal, state, and local agencies to value the importance of innovations for law enforcement. It's more than just guns, handcuffs, and cars. As I stated in the beginning, modern criminals require modern criminal investigations. You can't combat person that has a knife with a balloon.

Jeff Harrell: From Tyler Technologies, it's the Tyler Tech Podcast, where we talk about issues facing communities today and highlight the people, places, and technology making a difference. I'm your host, Jeff Harrell. I'm the director of content marketing for Tyler. I'm so glad that you've joined me.

It often dominates the headlines. Modern criminals, cyber and otherwise, are using modern ways to conduct crime. So here's the problem we are looking at today. If modern criminals are more sophisticated than ever, how can federal law enforcement use technology to keep us safe?

Well, to answer this question, we turn to Skip Bland. He is a development executive with Tyler Technologies, and he's got an incredible background. He's got more than 30 years of military security, law enforcement, and counter intelligence experience. He joined the US air force in 1984, and, get this, he's guarded nuclear weapon storage areas and aircraft at strategic commands near Oxford, England, and later in Adana, Turkey. From there, he spent a decade in the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, which identifies, investigates and neutralizes serious criminal, terrorist, and espionage threats to United States Air Force and Department of Defense, thereby protecting national security. He's done a little bit of everything.

So to help us understand this very complex question, here's my conversation with Skip Bland.

Well, Skip, normally we dive right into questions, but you have such an interesting background, I thought I'd first stop and give you an opportunity to tell us a little bit about your experience.

Skip Bland: I started working with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations for about 12 years. I spent another three years being a security force member and was recruited by OSI to be part of the joint drug enforcement team. It was really an exciting time in my life. I was able to go after Jamaican drug lords, and Mexican drug dealers that were affecting the nearby Air Force installations.;

After that, after the bones got a little weary and the muscles got tired, I started doing counter intelligence. I was a case officer conducting counter espionage, counter intelligence operations for the Air Force. It was really good, very exciting. Such a privilege to be able to brief commanders and different operations that are going on, and being briefed all the way up to the office of the President. So it was an exciting time in my life.

After that, I got out. and I started working with FEMA being a disaster fraud investigator. People kind of ask you, well, why would you be doing disaster fraud? I said, well, just think about it. Not everyone that is in a disaster area is going to be honest about what happens because they realize that FEMA's this golden egg of funds. I always use the monikers that sometimes good people do bad things. There's money out there to be received, to help out those who are affected by various disasters, but you're going to have that small group of people that's going to be out there trying to take advantage of the system. So I was sent out to go out on location, do interviews, conduct investigations of those people who were scamming the system.

Then after that, started doing some freelance consulting, and then got picked up with Micropact, which is now later Tyler Federal, and been loving the journey ever since.

Jeff Harrell: Well, that's awesome. And we're going to learn so much from you today, and that background, I'm sure, will inform a lot of what we hear from you today. So we're excited to do that.

Today, you're going to talk about seven ways criminal investigations benefit from innovative technology. Excited to hear these seven things. And I think, Skip, we'll dive right into it. What's the first way?

Criminals Use Innovative IT Solutions

Skip Bland: Jeff, I got to tell you. These are modern times, and in modern times, you got a different type of criminal. Most of these criminals utilize social media, innovative IT solutions. So in order for law enforcement to truly be able to combat modern type of crimes, you need modern types of innovative systems. Case management, reporting and analysis type of platforms. Long gone are the days of just using spreadsheets and writing down information on pieces of paper. The internet and wifi world has just taken over. So as investigators, we got to be smart about what's going on. The ongoing trends of IT. We have to be on top of those things.

Because the criminals are getting smarter. They're not using their brawn anymore. They're using their brains. And that's the key thing. There's so many times when you think about these investigators that are out there crunching. They used to call them brown shoes because they'd wear out shoes running around getting leads. Well, nowadays, you could reach out to people thousands of miles away via your laptop. And so you want to start combating these modern crimes and even the older type of crimes ... Graft, fraud, different things of that nature. People are utilizing these laptops, their iPads, their iPhones to steal from people every day.

And so that we make the load a little bit lighter for the investigators, it's always good for them to embrace technology.

Jeff Harrell: Is it fair to say that the criminals are using technology so we better as well?

Skip Bland: It's imperative. We have to move with the changes. Long gone are the days of just staying in these archaic ways of doing business. We got to be smart. We got to think outside the box. Because that's what they're doing. These criminals are thinking of new ways of defrauding people every day, and so it would be smart for us as investigators to do the same.

Jeff Harrell: Do you ever sit back and go, if you'd use that creativity for good instead of for bad, how much better the world would be?

Skip Bland: I truly believe that the cure for cancer could have already been taken care of by now. Because I always figure this. If you can think it, that means it's possible. That's why every time I look at a sci-fi movie, I look at us traveling into space, and Star Trek and Star Wars. And I say if someone can actually think of these ideas, they have to be able to put this stuff in place.

Jeff Harrell: Love that, love that. Awesome. All right. So the first way to fight modern crime, you need a modernized investigative solution. What's way number two?

Integrated Solutions

Skip Bland: Truly trying to have an integrated solution that's going truly across the landscape providing collaboration. Meaning connecting the first responders to the investigators, the investigators to the judicial branch, the judicial branch as well as the investigators to the correctional side of the house. You'd be surprised how much information you can get when everyone's talking to one another.

Perfect example. We all know that 9/11 was a tragic thing that happened to the United States, and a lot of things probably could have been prevented if people talked to one another. And that's always been a thing that has stifled investigations is one person not wanting to tell the other person what's really going on. So it's very imperative that there's a true collaboration with all the players involved. Because, again, the bad guys are talking to one another. They have their little cliques. They have their dark web that they go into, and they talk amongst one another. And they share ideas, they share strategies. We should be doing the same thing.

Jeff Harrell: Is it like that telephone game where you tell someone something next to you, and by the time it comes all the way around ...

Skip Bland: It's a completely different story.

Jeff Harrell: Yeah, is it like that?

Skip Bland: It is, but I think it's better that ... I'll give you an example. If a first responder picks up a lead of a certain incident that has occurred, when he passes that information onto the investigator, the investigator may have to start talking to some of the other colleagues. Be it an attorney that might be working on a similar case, or a correctional officer that's working a certain tier at a correctional facility. He may have information that he's hearing while the inmates are talking. They may be able to help him in one of his investigations. So it's all about information cross feed.

Jeff Harrell: It's almost access to information. It's almost sharing and access.

Skip Bland: That's it. That's it. That is it. There's no magic potion for all of this. It's really about looking at things from a simplistic nature. Common sense. If I can connect A with B, and I need to get the D, I have to talk to C. That's the only way I'm going to get to D.

Jeff Harrell: Yeah. You're bringing up high school algebra, and it's making my head hurt a little bit.

Skip Bland: I didn't mean to do that, my friend.

Tracking Information Internally

Jeff Harrell: Just kidding. Well, that's awesome, Skip. So what's way number three? So we've got modern technology. We've got information that's now being not only shared but connected. What's the third way?

Skip Bland: Tracking information internally. That leads to better outcomes with all that play in the part. Because on the judicial platform or community, you have the first responders, investigators, and your attorneys. Where if all three are working together in tandem and sharing correct information, sharing all of those details, the judicial branch will have a better outcome in the way they do business.

Because at the end of the day, the judicial branch, they're the guys that need to bring it home. They're in a third leg of a relay. If they are given all the information they need, they can have a great outcome in the courts. Because, ideally, what we want to do is we want to get the bad guys off the streets and into a correctional facility where they can be rehabilitated and just get their lives changed. But police, law enforcement, they catch a big, bad break from time to time, but people really don't realize the jobs that they have to do day in and day out. They have to wear a number of hats. Be a counselor, be a big brother, also be a disciplinarian. That's a tough thing to do.

So, again, that's why it's so important for us to be able to provide them with innovative technologies that make their job easy to do.

Jeff Harrell: I love that analogy of the third leg of a relay. So if that second leg doesn't hand off the right information in the right way ...

Skip Bland: We could possibly lose the race.

Jeff Harrell: No, it's a race. Yeah.

Skip Bland: That's right.

Reporting

Jeff Harrell: That's a great analogy. This is awesome. I'm learning a ton here. What's the fourth way that you can share with us, Skip?

Skip Bland: In any investigation, reporting and analytics is crucial. I say reporting. There's been some incidents that have occurred in the past where information was not reported properly and some things slipped through the cracks. And, unfortunately, when it comes to law enforcement, there's really no room for that because when things slip through the cracks, they have a secondary reaction that could be fatal to some people.

One of the crucial things that are important right now as the NIBRS, that's the National Incident Based Reporting System, and that's where law enforcement are giving various fields of information that they must fill out and must provide, and that information is then reported to Department of Justice. They do that so that they can track those individuals that may be trying to buy firearms illegally, or going through the process, and if that information has not been properly reported, then people slip through the cracks. People that are unauthorized to buy weapons or guns of any nature have access to guns, and that's what we're trying to alleviate from happening.

If you have individuals that have been investigated for spousal abuse, and that information is not properly reported, they could slip through the cracks and be able to purchase a weapon. And in some cases, what has happened is that a person has done that, and been able to go out and commit some heinous crimes.

And so all of this really is just a matter of I say working together as a team. All the information must be reported properly. That information, while being properly reported, can be sent to various other parties in this team so that they can do their part of it. That information can be analyzed.

One of the big crucial things in law enforcement right now is two things. One is trends analysis. Well, we can monitor trends of certain criminal activity that's been happening, so we can make sure that crime gets deterred. All of that is regarding proper reporting and analytics.

Jeff Harrell: I love that. So reporting and analytics leads to better insights, and better insights, I'm sure, leads to better decisions.

Skip Bland: And better policing.

Jeff Harrell: And better policing.

Skip Bland: That's the crucial part of that.

Knowledge is power.

Jeff Harrell: So far, man, four awesome ways that criminal investigations benefit from innovative technology. I'm excited to hear, Skip, what's our fifth way?

Skip Bland: Now, the fifth one is really close to me, and it's dealing with informants. Knowledge is power. Most law enforcement investigations can't be successful unless they have information. Now, I would love and I know all law enforcement officers, would love, to be everywhere there's crime being committed. They can be right on top of it. But, unfortunately, they can't. So in place of that, we have what is called informants, and those people, be it vetting or non-vetting ... And when I say vetting, they know that they are informing for the police, and then non-vetting is those people, "I'm offering information. I really don't know if this is going to help or not, but this is what I saw." Those informants help investigators in capturing information that they need to get critical information and help them solve cases.

In some cases, you have informants that are doing this on a routine basis. Well, the best way to kind of track that is not on a piece of paper and pen. I remember when I was in, we used to have these informant sheets that we catalog everything that's being done, if there's any money that's being given to them, and that was the way that we do this. Well, imagine if you could do that in an automated fashion where that information is already gathered. There's certain leads that if you do one step, it'll automate you to do another. So if you've got new people that are managing informants ... Because that's an art. Informant management is an art. Not everybody can do it, because it's really about managing people, managing a relationship, and not everybody that's going to informant is going to be a nice guy. Some of them are going to be people that you normally wouldn't hang out with.

But the key to successful informant tracking is being able to manage that relationship, and you do that by having pertinent information at your fingertips so that you can read about a certain individual. What is this informant's likes? What are their dislikes? Let me get scientific with you for a minute. Using Maslow's hierarchy of needs, what does that person need that I can fulfill to get him to do what I want him to do?

See, I look at law enforcement as a big board game, and it's all about strategy. Because the ultimate goal is we want to get to go, to pass it, collect $200, and not go to jail. But our job is to capture those guys, collect $200, and put them in jail. The only way we do that is we got to have strategy. We got to be able to think through these things. We got to be able to track that information so that when it comes time for court, when they want to find out the validity of this person and the information they were providing, at your fingertips, you can run a report and say, here's "John Blow. He has been working for me for a number of years. We've had a number of successful investigations that he has been part of. This is the amount of money that we have provided to him to help him during those times that he's working for us. This is the quality of the information that he's provided."

So it just gives people that are looking at you a full picture of who you're working with. Because if you're the only person that's seeing this guy, normally, it's going to come into question when you go to court. Because they're going to say, "Well, where is this information coming from? How is it verified?" Well, if you already have this laid out, your attorneys will know, hey, this is what this person been doing for us. Quality of information that he's been providing. How long he's been working with us. What is his motivation for providing that? All of that comes into play.

But you wouldn't know that if you got all this stuff written on a book. Imagine being in school, and all the notes that you took during all the courses. A lot of times, a lot of that stuff is just running in, and you may have some math notes running into a philosophy class notes, then going into a history note. She's like, where's the break at? Well, when you have an innovative system that's tracking that for you, it kind of takes away all the hard work for cataloging all the information away from you.

Jeff Harrell: Is it helping you, Skip, add credibility to these information sources? And in this case, we're talking about an informant.

Skip Bland: What it does is it gives you bonafides to show that you're accurately capturing that information. Nothing is going amiss, and that's what's critical. Because for so long, so many times, police officers are questioned about what they're doing because there's nothing there to catalog everything.

Now, mind you, if you have a system, you want to make sure that it's secure because that information on that informant is not supposed to go out to everybody in the general public. So you have to have a system that has certain security guidelines, measures to keep information confidential. But, again, it just helps the validity of the investigation when you've got stuff tracked, verified, and cataloged for people to review.

Mobile Case Management Capability

Jeff Harrell: Well, we've got five now done. Informant tracking solutions, streamline informant information. Two more to go. I'm really interested. I'm learning so much here. Skip, what's the sixth way?

Skip Bland: Having a mobile case management capability that will empower the guys, the field operatives, in the field. I remember working during Desert Storm. During that period of time, my job description changed. I was now performing duties as a counterintelligence offensive agent where I would go out, track information from the locals to get information on weapons caches, if there's any threats to the deployed units that were in Desert Storm. And it would've been nice to been able to have a hardened tablet or iPad to be able to capture this information, because normally what we do, capture it, then we get somewhere and write all these notes down. Or you try to have a recorder, but that wasn't always feasible to do. But imagine having a mobile device that you could capture all this information, and then it could be uploaded directly to your system. Man, you're talking about that's leaps and bounds for a guy that's operating in the field.

Now, let's kick it up a notch. Imagine somebody working covertly, and they don't know that he is an agent working for the government. He's sitting there acting like he's on social media. He could be capturing information that's feeding his handling agent somewhere where he's deployed at. And, again, we're just trying to be smarter than the average criminal or whoever we're going against. Having the mobile capability to equip the guys in the field, the first responders, with the capability of capturing information that can be logged in, annotated, and where there's an audit trail that allows them to capture this critical information for the investigations that they're running.

Jeff Harrell: This is fascinating, Skip. I feel like I watch Law and Order on TV, and you have a certain assumption of what's going on. I feel like we're getting a really interesting peek behind the curtain into what technology can really allow you to do.

Skip Bland: Oh, it does. Now, I tell you this, technology is fabulous, but it doesn't replace your ability to have social interaction with people. It is critical.

See, most people talk to those people that they like, that they trust. And so as a law enforcement official, I always thought that was priority one for me. Even when I was working undercover, I had to be able to have relationships with folks that didn't know me, and I had to quickly build trust with them. Well, the only way to do that is to find that one thing, those Maslow's hierarchy of needs again. Figure out what it was that they need that I could give them to get into that circle of trust.

But law enforcement is fascinating, and I know there's so many shows on TV and movies that depict certain things. But to those guys who are actually on the ground, in the field, those are some amazing characters, and they have to get out there. Like I said, they've they got a number of hats that they're wearing. So what we have to do, especially as a solution company, is to be able to provide them some things, some tools that help them make their job that much easier, and make their conviction rates go up higher, and be an deterrence to crime in the streets. For any soldier, because these are soldiers, you give them the equipment that they need to combat the evils that they have to come across.

Jeff Harrell: Because they're out there just trying to make this place a little safer place for all of us.

Skip Bland: A better place for us to live.

Tracking Behavior

Jeff Harrell: That's awesome. Well, Skip. bring us home. We got number seven.

Skip Bland: Now, number seven is important, and I'm glad that our conversation is flowing this way. It's no secret that during these days and times that police have been under the gun for a lot of stuff because of behaviors, or lack of training, or different things of that nature. I think it's important for any law enforcement manager to want to have some type of solution that tracks the training of his individuals as well as track the behaviors.

There's no secret that you're going to have some bad apples, and I think that it's important as a manager for a law enforcement agency to want to know where those apples are, those bad apples are, and see if we can nullify that before it gets to a problem. See, I think many of those things that have happened in the past probably could have been prevented if they had some type of vehicle, some type of platform, that would allow them to say, "Oh, Officer Tim has had a number of complaints. Let's pull him off. Let's give him a desk job for a little bit. Let's find out what's going on."

Because sometimes these law enforcement officials, they're human, too. They have wives, they have children, and a lot of times, they don't have a platform or an avenue to divulge all that mess that they're going to, that they have on their plate. And then they have to go out and deal with the public. And so if there's a way that we could provide solutions that can be able to pull them out, get them the proper training or counseling that they need to prevent these bad things ...

Because I always look at things like this. I ask the question, you say that your concerned that this is going to cost you. What will it cost you if you don't take these other measures? That's the thought process that I think a lot of people need to start doing because bad people, just human people, human beings are going to be out in the streets. Not everybody's going to listen to your commands in a timely fashion, but we got to be able to control that atmosphere. And the best way we control things is having knowledge of what's going on.

That way, we can curb those things, address them early so that they don't blow up in our face. Because it's all about saving lives, saving the reputations of law enforcement, because it's bigger than that one event. If you notice, these law enforcement issues affect everyone across the nation, so it is not just isolated to that one thing. Everybody looks at that police officer, and they paint that same brush to all police officers.

So what managers need to do, I think, in my humble opinion, is allow technology to help you. Let's get everybody properly trained. Let's be able to track when an officer needs his quarterly training for weapons training, or sensitivity training, or anything that's going to help him do his job. Because the idea of innovation is to help those police officers do their job more effectively and more efficiently. That's my humble opinion.

Jeff Harrell: Well, Skip, this has been great. I feel like, again, I've gotten a peek behind the curtain a little bit in terms of what's going on and how important, as you said, not only technology is but building those relationships and investing in people. Lots of great information. If someone says, hey, this is all awesome stuff, I'd like to know more, what's the next step someone can take?

Skip Bland: Well, the first thing they can do is they can shoot me an email. I'm at skip.bland@tylertech.com, and I'm one of the subject matter experts for law enforcement and intelligence matters. They can give me a call. We can sit down and have a conversation. We can chat. Or visit our websites at tylertech.com.

The one thing I love about Tyler Tech, if I may, is that they look into having true operators, former operators, people who've been in the same dirt as most of these law enforcement agencies. And I think that gives us those bonafides that you need, because it's not just an IT person coming to talk to you. It's somebody who shares your pain, knows the challenges that you have. And I think that gives any organization bonafides. And I use that term a lot because it means a great deal in the law enforcement community. "How can I trust you?"

"Well, I've been in your shoes."

"Ah, I got you. I understand now."

Jeff Harrell: So, Skip, this has been super insightful and helpful. Any final or closing thoughts for us?

Skip Bland: It's so important for IT departments within federal, state, and local agencies to value the importance of innovations for law enforcement. It's more than just guns, handcuffs, and cars. As I stated in the beginning, modern criminals require modern criminal investigations. You can't combat a person that has a knife with a balloon. It's just not going to work. Innovative technologies should also act as a deterrence to criminals because they'll say, "Well, wait a minute, these guys have the same type of equipment that we have, so we may need to back up from doing this stuff because they're doing the same thing." And, trust me, not everybody's going to run, but a large majority of them will start thinking about whether or not they want to get involved in this because they know, "Hey, the cops are just as innovative as us. They've got hackers. They got the ..."

 

Jeff Harrell: The white hat folks. Yeah.

Skip Bland: There you go. And so these people, they're what they call ethical hackers. Yeah. They know how to get in there and peruse through the dark web as well. So it's just a matter of IT leaders to really realize the importance that it's more than just having an IT solution for your HR, or your EEO. The active guys in law enforcement and criminal investigations, they need innovative solutions as well.

Jeff Harrell: So, Skip, this has been great. I just want to say, too, thanks so much for what you've done for our country and what you're currently doing here at Tyler Technologies. I just want to say thank you so much.

Skip Bland: No, I appreciate it, man. It's been an honor to serve, and I feel like I'm serving again in a different capacity, providing innovative solutions for law enforcement, military and intelligence. Again, this is a great time for me. I'm enjoying it, and I look forward for the future.

Jeff Harrell: Sounds great. Well, thanks so much my friend.

Skip Bland: All right, buddy. Take care, man.

Jeff Harrell: Well, Skip is a great guy with a big heart. We really appreciate his service to our country and really appreciate his knowledge on this topic. I grabbed a couple of really good nuggets. Hope you did as well.

Hey, thanks again for joining us on the Tyler Tech Podcast. We've got new episodes dropping every other Monday, so please subscribe, and we really appreciate you listening. This is Jeff Harrell for Tyler Technologies. We'll talk to you soon.