Technology Update

By: Christopher J. Braun MSIT, PCPA Technology Coordinator

Working in the new Environment

Without a doubt COVID-19 has changed all our lives. The past several months can be described in terms like dangerous, scary, worst depression ever and closed. We learned new terms like social distancing, mitigation, PPE and self-quarantining. Despite all that was going on, police work continued and had to adapt to this new environment. The same was true with all our programs and projects at PCPA. We had to adapt to this new environment. We had to rapidly make changes to safeguard staff, those we service and the public, and to continue to deliver the same level service to our members. The first personal change I made was to correct social distancing to mean physically distancing and socially engaging via a distancing media, phone, email, text messaging, and video meetings. The office staff had to work remotely and rotate any necessary office duties to keep those physically distancing standards. This enabled us to keep our online training through the Pennsylvania Virtual Training Network (PAVTN) not only operational but ready for the increased demand. While staying safe for us was way different than for you on the front lines, we salute you and hope you can stay safe. For our part, wherever and whenever, we will try to support our members, their departments, families and the citizens of our Commonwealth.

PAVTN

As expected, the months of January, February and March were busy with all those officers that wanted to get their annual training requirements done early in the year. The 2020 MPOETC courses. Legal Update 20-001, Explosive Devices 20-002,, Operational Planning 20-003 and Personal Leadership 20-004, were averaging over four thousand users a month. Now with the academies and schools closed, we are seeing aa 20% increase in the number of users taking their courses online. Our work with MPOETC on next year’s MIST and other courses has not been stopped by the pandemic either. PCPA’s staff, MPOETC’s staff, MPOETC’s committees, our training partners and subject matter experts all continue working while staying safe at their homes. Everyone involved in creating and delivering our online courses has committed to meeting the increase demand, overcoming any obstacles and staying on schedule for future courses. On May 19, 2020, the PAVTN will not be available for the day, while we deploy a new server. This is the first time in five years that the PAVTN has been unavailable for a day. It is necessary to keep us technically updated and improve the service. The PAVTN will be available again on May 20, 2020. Do not be a procrastinator get your training done. It is not clear if you can take physical classroom instruction anytime soon. The PAVTN has won many awards for the training it delivers. If you never tried online learning, now is the time to try it. The PAVTN provides several great electives for you to fulfill your certification requirements. For more information or to register for training

on the PAVTN please email me at cjbraun@comcast.net.

Forensic Evidence Grant

PCPA’s grant from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency to bring a greater emphasis on forensics did have a set back because of the pandemic. We had scheduled two days classroom training on the forensic examination of digital video evidence on April 6th and 7th. The original design of this class had 40 officers and 20 computers in the room together with aids and instructor. This obviously violates the physically distancing standard and it is more than can be allowed to gather. As with many other things in our new environment, it was cancelled. However, it is not forgotten, and it is still in our grant plan. This grant currently runs to September 30, 2021 and conditions may change next year to allow us to conduct this training. We are also exploring the possibility of finding a large enough venue with a computer for every officer to meet the physically distancing standards. The purpose of this grant is to help police departments be better equipped and trained to process crime scenes and collect evidence. This project supports improving the quality and frequency of collected latent evidence from crime scenes across the Commonwealth. Through a sustained effort of training, equipment, and agency executive support, a collaborative enterprise can be substantiated to educate and equip larger police departments, District Attorney Offices, Sheriff Offices, and/or regional partnerships (for the smaller agencies) to employ the latest discovery, collection, preservation, and development tools for processing latent evidence. PCPA had expected to start providing training and delivering crime scene kits this spring and early summer. The pandemic has delayed the start because the normal way of attending class to be trained on the use of the material in the kit is not possible. However, this is just temporary until either pandemic restrictions change, or we find larger venues were physically distancing standards can be met. Another idea being explored is using a blended learning methodology. Some training would be delivered online. This would lessen the classroom time so two smaller classes with physical distancing could be held in one day.

Mobile Fingerprint Identification Devices

The PCPA Mobile Fingerprint Identification Project is still operating.

However, we are not delivering any device and we are not doing the usual in person training. Training on the devices is available on the PAVTN. Hundreds of uses proved the effectiveness of these devices identifying suspects in the field that do not have other identification. In some cases, wanted persons were discovered in others new crimes were both identified and prevented. In the month of April 818 inquiries were made through our 289 deployed devices. While the grant funding is gone, there are still a few refurbished devices available for just the annual operating cost of $990. That provides the device, full system/device maintenance and one year of secure cellular service. Any department interested can see the requirements on our web page https://pcpa.memberclicks.net/ mobile-fingerprint-id or contact me by email cjbraun@pachiefs.org.

The past several months can be described in terms like dangerous, scary, worst depression ever and closed. We learned new terms like social distancing, mitigation, PPE and self-quarantining. Despite all that was going on, police work continued and had to adapt to this new environment. The same was true with all our programs and projects at PCPA. We had to adapt to this new environment.