Tracking officer well-being manually is not only difficult, it can also be damaging to your wellness program. Neither you nor your command staff can be everywhere at once. By the time it's obvious enough to document that an officer is burnt out, it may be too late to reverse.
Tracking the symptoms of burnout is all about consistency. If it’s not consistent, problems can begin to escalate unnoticed. A police early warning system with a focus on wellness can automate the process for you, while mitigating attrition and liability.
How modern early intervention software works
Police early intervention systems help you recognize officer stressors and high-impact events before they become bigger problems. This allows you to build a stronger, more resilient agency.
Solutions like PowerVitals go beyond the traditional EIS. It quantifies cumulative stress data from multiple sources like CAD notes, action reports, and internal affairs cases. It uses advanced AI to process this information and calculate the level of trauma exposure for an officer. PowerVitals calls this auto-calculation a Pulse Score.
When officers show signs of increased stress or trauma, supervisors are notified so they can provide support earlier than traditional systems. They also have access to customizable assistance plans and a user-friendly admin dashboard, where they can view officer alerts and Pulse Score changes at any time.
With these robust tools, you can go above and beyond software to empower your supervisors and officers. Don’t just take our word for it – research demonstrates how impactful early intervention systems can be.
The proven impact of early intervention on law enforcement agencies
Although there are different types of EI systems, research indicates that structured programs can reduce officer burnout, improve morale, and decrease citizen complaints.
As of 2020, approximately 18% of law enforcement agencies nationwide used an EIS, including Minneapolis and New Orleans. An early assessment of these two cities’ EI technology and interventions showed a 67% and 62% decrease in citizen complaints, respectively.
The DOJ considers EIS to be evidence-based technology, or technology that has been tested and shown to effectively solve a problem. It even recommends early intervention systems as a tool to prioritize psychological health and wellness in law enforcement, especially after a critical incident has occurred.
In 2017, the John F. Finn Institute for Public Safety launched a study on Police Early Intervention Systems, supported by the National Institute of Justice. Across three separate agencies, certain actions and indicators decreased after intervention:
- Citizen Complaints
- Use of Force
- ECD Use
- Pointing of Firearm
- Internal Investigations
While it's clear that use of force, ECDs, and firearms are necessary in some situations, if an incident can be de-escalated, it should be. This is where early intervention technology can be used to inform better training and mitigate crisis situations in addition to reducing burnout.
The ultimate goal of EIS technology like PowerVitals is to support officers and empower supervisors. With the right solution, your agency can increase officer retention, mitigate liability, and better serve the community.
How to get started
Agencies often have no reliable way of identifying when an officer is struggling, so the stress and burnout go unaddressed and affect their performance, health, and safety. Early intervention programs provide the needed tools to support officers, lower attrition rates, and improve morale.
While managing risk and liability is critical in law enforcement, some EISs are built to see every officer as a risk. Instead of identifying when an officer needs more training or support, those systems ignore the human element of policing and try to predict when an officer will have a negative incident. PowerVitals is different. It puts officer wellness at the forefront of early intervention – calculating the trauma and cumulative stress officers have experienced and helping supervisors proactively support their teams with the right tools.
PowerVitals is a robust early intervention software that enables supervisors to support officers earlier than traditional alerts. It tracks and measures weighted indicators, calculates Pulse Scores for every officer, and empowers supervisors to support officers with alerts, template check-ins, and assistance plans.
Learn more about PowerVitals here and see how you can turn agency data into actionable insights for an elevated, more resilient force.
