How to Find Fugitives (And People) Faster

Chief Jeff Halstead (Ret.), Director of Strategic Accounts for Genasys, Inc.

Within the past few years, many citizens have come to understand that “technology” fully supports the law enforcement mission. Especially, supporting those officers when they are focused on finding suspects, locating escaped prisoners, or apprehending violent fugitives. Citizens also believe that missing persons cases, like Amber Alerts and Silver Alerts, are also shared immediately to ALL agencies...but sadly that is not the case.

Why is the right technology more critical today?

As a 36-year veteran of this honorable profession, I experienced multiple challenges in deploying emerging technology for 2 basic reasons:

“It’s not created for Police”—the companies that drive technology change - the products/ we use in our everyday lives do NOT focus or create technology to support the law enforcement mission. The majority of technology innovation today is created for citizens and consumers, NOT police officers.
“Solutions can be illegal or non-compliant"—Communications platforms and applications are generally created for citizens, teenagers, and potentially support illegal behaviors. Today, even the FBI has stated that organized criminal syndicates like drug cartels and sex trafficking groups use platforms like Signal, GroupMe, and WhatsApp. It would shock elected officials and the media if they realized that a lot of investigative details and police units are using these illegal, non-compliant platforms and the same criminals they are investigating are on the SAME platform!

So why should we discuss this challenge today?

In just the last year, we witnessed 2 attempted assassination attempts on a former President and in the first attempt, there were massive communications failures, at multiple levels, and even the former Secret Service Director admitted they were using “Signal” to share information. This is a non-compliant, encrypted communications app, the same app that is used by drug cartels and sex trafficking organizations.

We had the assassination of the United Healthcare CEO that ignited a national manhunt for the suspect. Law enforcement stated in multiple press conferences that “cross agency collaboration” is a priority in these types of fugitive manhunts and high-profile investigations. There were hundreds of still pictures and video images of the suspect and in the end thankfully, an employee at the McDonalds noticed a customer that resembled the suspect and called Altoona PD. high-profile investigations.
With the incoming new Presidential administration, there is a focus on finding violent people that have entered the country illegally and have committed violent crimes like murder, sexual assault, and/or trying to establish their gangs here in our country. The challenge of finding fugitives faster will be a constant spotlight on this profession - a solution needs to be deployed for ALL of law enforcement, city, county, state, and federal. In order to do what the new administration wants, agencies will need a platform created specifically for their profession, it needs to be fast, and it has to be legally compliant, increasing transparency and accountability.

In 2017, after visiting hundreds of law enforcement agencies in 40 states and 6 countries, I realized that today’s police officers need a secure, legally compliant, encrypted, and powerful intelligence-sharing communications app to help them find fugitives faster. Remember, the longer a fugitive is on the run, the more crimes will be committed, and the chance for an increased number of victims to be harmed in multiple communities. This cannot be acceptable, especially when trying to find murderers, sexual assault suspects, and sexually motivated predators who aretargeting our children.

Collaboration is key!

One of the most powerful things to remember is that having the ability to share intelligence with a massive number of agencies needs to be established BEFORE any crisis event or attempt at locating a wanted fugitive. If the platform of choice is emails, texts, or any consumer apps, be aware they are NOT effective and NOT compliant. Law enforcement needs a platform that has the ability of mass notifications in a secure, compliant, and collaborative platform.

What does the ideal platform look like OR, what can it accomplish? Imagine the power of sharing updated intelligence to thousands of police officers across multiple states in half a second! Once the targeted suspect is in custody, then that same platform can alert all police officers so time is not wasted on other addresses, vehicles, or locations of interest.

How can this help Amber Alerts or other high profile missing person cases?

The Amber Alert system was created in response to the abduction and murder of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman from Arlington, Texas, back in 1996. This system has been proven to be VERY effective, but this system is also almost 3 decades old and updates are needed, given newer technology can locate these children faster. When I was Chief in Fort Worth and our investigators had a missing child investigation that met the criteria for an “Amber Alert,” the process could take a long time to activate, creating a lag time to get critical information to the media outlets, taking sometimes 2-3 hours. If your child was abducted, would you want to wait that long?

Again - “collaboration is key” to bringing more efficient notifications of all missing persons cases, including Amber Alerts. For instance, from the scene of any missing child or abducted child case, your agency should be able to activate the Amber Alert statewide network but at the same time, you can also share this information with thousands of police officers, on and off duty, in less than half a second. This duplicate system still accesses the proven benefits of the Amber Alert networks nationally but also allows your agency and the case-carrying detective to get this information out in seconds, not hours.

Final thoughts: how technology can be a game-changer

It has been proven with multiple agencies across several states that advanced communications technology and intelligence-sharing systems WILL find wanted persons and missing persons faster than ever imagined! Since every public safety agency is required to deploy safe, effective, and legally compliant systems, there are a few critical things to remember when choose your platform:

Confirm the system or solution you are reviewing is fully compliant with CJIS, FOIA, and your state’s public records retention laws.

“Consumer apps” (Signal, GroupMe, WhatsApp, Messenger) are NOT compliant and violate state & federal laws when sharing protected information and intelligence.

Emails are NOT effective and often ignored.

SMS/Text messages are not compliant, secure, and you cannot control ‘where’ your information will be forwarded once sent.

Make sure if you are using a SaaS system you own, control, and can manage ALL data, information, and media attachments.

Build your networks across multiple counties and multiple states BEFORE your crisis event, fugitive hunt, or missing person case.
Remain cautious to use any system or solution that has not been in the public safety space for at least 5 years; startups can literally go out of business, and you won’t have a solution.

If any law enforcement agency would like free help or have any questions they want answered, I will be happy to assist them!