Technology in Law Enforcement

Technology has become an essential part of modern law enforcement, not because it replaces traditional police work, but because it improves the speed, accuracy, and completeness of information available to officers, investigators, and command staff. Effective technology allows agencies to collect information from multiple sources, organize it in a useful way, and apply it to real-time operations, investigations, crime analysis, and long-term planning. When properly implemented, these systems can improve officer safety, reduce repetitive administrative work, strengthen investigative outcomes, and help agencies make more informed decisions. The greatest value comes from connecting information that would otherwise remain separated across different systems, giving personnel a more complete understanding of events, locations, people, and patterns. At the same time, law enforcement technology must be used within a framework of policy, training, oversight, and accountability. These tools are only effective if they are accurate, legally compliant, auditable, and trusted by both the agency and the community it serves.

Responsible use of technology is essential to ensuring that modern law enforcement tools improve public safety while promoting fairness, transparency, and equity. Technology should be implemented in a way that helps reduce inconsistent decision-making, improves access to accurate information, and supports objective review of police activity. When properly governed, these systems can help identify service gaps, evaluate outcomes across neighborhoods, improve accountability, and ensure resources are deployed based on need rather than assumption. To accomplish this, we ensure the use of clear policies, regular audits, training, legal review, and community-focused safeguards to ensure technology strengthens trust, protects privacy, and supports equitable service for all members of the community.

The Redwood City Police Department has positioned itself as a progressive agency that continues to adapt to the changing demands of modern policing. As public safety challenges become more complex, RCPD has taken a forward-looking approach by identifying, evaluating, and implementing technology that improves effectiveness, officer safety, investigative capability, and service to the community. This includes using modern systems to increase situational awareness, strengthen decision-making, reduce administrative workload, and better connect information across the Department. RCPD’s continued investment in technology reflects an understanding that law enforcement must evolve alongside the communities it serves. By responsibly adopting emerging tools and developing practical systems around them, the Department continues to establish itself as a leader in the law enforcement technology field, reflected in the following key technology areas:

Body-Worn Cameras & Evidence Management

Body-worn cameras and digital evidence management systems are used to document police activity and manage case-related evidence. Axon is the Department’s vendor for body-worn cameras and Evidence.com, which provides a centralized platform for storing, organizing, reviewing, and sharing digital evidence, including video, photographs, audio files, and other media. The system supports investigations and prosecutions by maintaining evidence in one location, preserving chain of custody, applying retention schedules, and allowing controlled access for authorized personnel. These tools also improve workflow by reducing manual evidence handling, simplifying review, and making it easier to share evidence with prosecutors when needed.

Automated License Plate Reader Systems (ALPRs)

Automated license plate reader systems are used to identify and document vehicle license plates in public areas. ALPR technology captures plate images, records associated time and location data, and compares that information against authorized databases or alert lists. These systems support patrol and investigative work by helping identify stolen vehicles, wanted vehicles, vehicles associated with criminal investigations, and vehicles connected to missing persons or other public safety alerts. ALPR data can also assist investigators by providing leads, timelines, and location information when a vehicle is relevant to a case. Access, retention, and use of ALPR data is tightly controlled by policy, audit logs, and legal requirements.

Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)

Unmanned Aircraft Systems are used to support public safety operations by providing aerial observation, situational awareness, and real-time information during calls for service. The Department’s UAS program includes Drone as First Responder (DFR) capabilities, allowing a drone to respond quickly to incidents and provide responding officers with early information before they arrive on scene. In addition to DFR, patrol-led and tactical UAS deployments are used for more specific missions, including area searches, perimeter checks, overwatch, and interior searches where sending personnel first may create unnecessary risk. These systems improve decision-making by giving officers a safer way to assess locations, locate subjects, document conditions, and coordinate resources during active incidents.

Real-Time Information & Data Aggregation

The Department is developing a Real-Time Information Center (RTIC) and uses several data aggregation platforms, which combine information from separate systems into a single, more usable operating picture in real time. Tools such as C3, SHERLOCK, Peregrine, or Axon Fusus can help personnel search, view, compare, and analyze records, calls for service, reports, vehicle data, camera feeds, and other authorized data sources without manually checking each system separately. These platforms support patrol, investigations, crime analysis, and command decision-making by identifying patterns, linking related information, and providing faster access to relevant facts. When properly configured, they reduce duplicate work, improve information sharing, and help turn large amounts of data into actionable leads.

Artificial Intelligence

The Department is looking at ways to incorporate Generative Artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools support law enforcement operations. These tools can help personnel review, organize, and summarize large amounts of information more efficiently. These systems can assist with tasks such as drafting reports, identifying relevant information in digital evidence, reviewing video or audio, finding connections between records, and reducing repetitive administrative work. When integrated with authorized Department systems, AI can help provide better context and improve the speed of analysis while still requiring human review and decision-making. AI does not replace officer judgment, it simply aids in surfacing hard to find information and aggregating disparate source data for users. Its use is controlled through policy, source attribution, audit logs, access controls, validation, and training to ensure outputs are accurate, explainable, and appropriate for official use.

Digital Forensics

The Department operates its own in-house digital forensics lab,  where trained examiners can extract data from smartphones, tablets, computers, cloud providers and other digital media when authorized by a search warrant, consent, or another legal basis. These extractions can recover a wide range of electronic data, which investigators use to build timelines, corroborate witness statements, and identify connections in cases ranging from violent crimes to missing persons investigations. Having an in-house lab allows evidence to be processed locally and kept under the Department's direct chain of custody, reducing turnaround time compared to relying on outside agencies.

NextGen 911

Next Generation 911 (NextGen 911) is an upgraded emergency communications infrastructure that allows the Department's dispatch center to receive and process 911 calls more efficiently and with richer information than legacy landline-based systems. NextGen 911 supports the transmission of text messages, images, video, and precise location data alongside traditional voice calls, giving dispatchers more context to assess emergencies and direct the appropriate response. This technology also improves interoperability between neighboring jurisdictions and public safety agencies, allowing calls and data to be more easily transferred or shared during large-scale incidents or when a caller's location falls near jurisdictional boundaries. By modernizing how emergency calls are received and routed, NextGen 911 helps reduce response times, improves dispatcher situational awareness, and creates a more resilient 911 system overall.