HOLYOKE — The Holyoke Police Department has struck a deal with Mark43 — a software company focused on public safety — to bring in a modern, cutting-edge technology platform to better report and respond to crimes.
The industry-leading cloud-native computer aided dispatch from Mark43 will assist the HPD with a new records management system, as well as provide analytics regarding crimes and situations that will help the department better address crime and support the community.
Mark43’s Public Safety Platform will empower Holyoke’s law enforcement, ensure real-time information sharing, enhance officer safety and save time on report writing so they can spend more time with the community.
“We are excited to join forces with Mark43 to provide our officers, detectives, records personnel and telecommunicators with state-of-the-art tools essential for efficient and effective job performance,” said Holyoke Police Chief David Pratt.
Mark43’s cloud-native CAD, RMS and Analytics suite will modernize HPD through a few different offerings. The first is that the emergency dispatch software will be capable of pinpointing exact caller and responder locations and shares life-saving date with nearby units, allowing for police to run analytics in real time.
The system will also provide critical analytics that summarize law enforcement trends to assist in making better informed decisions, as well as accurate crime reporting with an easy-to-use National Independent-Based Reporting system.
“Holyoke is a progressive department leading the way in Massachusetts by transitioning from legacy, [on-premises] technology to the modern, cloud-native Mark43 Public Safety Platform. We are proud to be their partner,” said Mark43 co-founder and President Matt Polega.
Mark 43 RMS is an intuitive record management system to be used by officers and staff during everyday policing. It enables faster report-writing, integrated compliance standards and superior user experience that leads to enhanced work performance and job satisfaction.
“Mark43 CAD and RMS equip our first responders with real-time information so they can focus on fighting crime and serving the community. Just as importantly, this partnership enables close collaboration with neighboring agencies and cross-country partners so we can work together in our shared mission of public safety,” Pratt said.
Polega spoke to Reminder Publishing and detailed examples of how this tech will be utilized in assisting officers and said effective emergency response relies on the right data being in the right hands at the right time. He started by saying the enhanced situational awareness from this software will bring more comprehensive responses from officers in the field.
“This also means that officers have access to historical information at an address that they’re responding to. For example, this could mean an officer learns that someone at that address has a history of violence towards police, owns firearms or has a history of mental health calls,” Polega explained. “Having the right information in real time means that dispatchers have mission-critical information that helps them deploy the right personnel and drive the right interventions to support both the safety of the first responder and the community member.”
Polega also explained the new software’s capability of helping officers write reports more efficiently as it has a mobile-first design which enables faster report writing, case management, joint offense/arrest reporting and the ability to complete reports in the first.
“The optimized user experience promotes intuitive workflows and reduces manual input, saving time for first responders so they can spend more time on other urgent responsibilities and with the community,” Polega said. This would free time in theory for officers to complete reports more efficiently and be a more present in the community.
When it comes to other cities or communities that have implemented Mark43’s software, Polega shared statistics from Washington D.C. that capture the impacts made from better tech assisting officers in their roles.
According to Polega, after implementing the Mark43 Public Safety Platform, the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department was able to decrease incident/offense report writing time by 80% and reduce arrest report writing time by 50%. This equals 238,000 hours saved per year on report writing, which effectively adds roughly 110 officers to patrol.
“After implementing the Mark43 Public Safety Platform, residents can expect the Holyoke PD to save time on report writing, which will lead to more officers out in the community helping people,” Polega said.
He added the HPD will also have the critical access to real-time information that will assist in combating crime and focus on serving the residents of Holyoke.
“However, criminals don’t stay within jurisdictional borders. This partnership also enables closer collaboration with neighboring public safety agencies and cross-country partners, so residents can also expect the added benefits of a collaborative focus across agencies working to help keep them safe,” Polega said.
Mark43 continues to partner with police departments across the state and in addition to the Holyoke Police Department, they also have deals with police departments in Falmouth, West Springfield and the Hampden Country Sheriff’s Department.
