Crime solving in the 21st century hinges on digital evidence and the volume, velocity and variety of digital evidence is growing exponentially.
There’s so much data, coming from so many silos – body-worn cameras, CCTV, in-car video, audio recordings, RMS, CAD, etc. – that it’s increasingly difficult for investigators to take it all in, correlate it, and absorb the facts of a case.
Detectives are drowning – logging on to a dozen systems to collect evidence and manually search for connections in cases.
They waste time emailing, phoning, filling out paperwork, even driving from place to place; then waste even more time putting disjointed evidence into context, and copying it onto media to hand deliver to District Attorneys.
Police departments need a better way to manage digital evidence, to improve case solvability.
This was precisely the vision behind NICE Investigate – a revolutionary new cloud SaaS solution that makes investigators more efficient and effective crime solvers, so they can close cases faster.
(This video illustrates how NICE Investigate automates and expedites the entire digital investigation process and helps investigators close more cases faster, leading to more successful prosecutions. Courtesy of NICE)
Running on the secure Microsoft Azure Government cloud, NICE Investigate is a comprehensive, scalable, CJIS-compliant, cloud-based, end-to-end solution for managing investigations and digital evidence.
With the NICE Investigate investigation and police electronic evidence management software, departments will:
- Save time and money by automating manual processes
- Improve case solvability and increase case clearance rates
- Reduce paper and storage costs
- Ensure court cost savings as a result of faster case resolution and more early plea bargains
- Eliminate fines for lost evidence
- Enable higher prosecution success rates
NICE Investigate automates digital evidence collection, analysis and sharing to enhance case solvability and transform investigators into more efficient and effective crime-solvers.
Here’s How:
Evidence Collection
Today, digital evidence collection typically involves logging on to myriad systems, sending emails, placing phone calls, filling out forms, and manually driving from location to location.
With NICE Investigate, investigators log in to one system; a powerful ‘Google-like’ search tool brings back evidence from all connected structured and unstructured data sources.
A secure Community Portal also makes it easy to crowdsource citizen video, photos and tips.
Private businesses can register their CCTV cameras as well.
Evidence Analysis:
Investigators often spend grueling hours manually sifting through digital evidence to put it into proper context.
Proprietary video codecs and players can also complicate investigations.
NICE Investigate automatically transcodes video into a playable format and helps investigators visualize evidence in meaningful ways, for example on maps and timelines.
With NICE Investigate’s visualization tools, an investigator can select any number of media files from the virtual case folder, add them to a timeline, visualize them, and synchronously play them back. Videos are automatically transcoded to a playable format.
Built-in mapping capabilities also enable investigators to view case evidence according to its geolocation on a map.
Investigators can even use built-in redaction tools to redact video.
Evidence Sharing:
Today, digital evidence has to be manually copied onto CDs and then hand-delivered to the prosecutor.
NICE Investigate’s virtual case folders make sharing simple.
Instead of copying evidence, an investigator can securely and electronically share evidence, simply by emailing a link to a digital case file.
The system automatically tracks who accessed which files and when to protect evidence integrity and preserve chain of custody.
Scalable Cloud-based Solution
Running on the Microsoft Azure Government cloud NICE Investigate is hands down the industry’s most comprehensive, scalable, CJIS-compliant cloud-based solution for managing investigations and digital evidence.
The inherent scalability of the Microsoft Azure cloud means NICE Investigate can easily adjust to meet the changing investigative workloads and evidence storage requirements of today’s law enforcement agencies.
As a SaaS (Software as a Service) solution it also eliminates the up-front hardware and resource costs associated with premise-based storage alternatives.
Together, NICE Investigate and Azure Government meet the security requirements for federal, state, and local governments as defined by the FBI’s CJIS policy, eliminating security concerns.
NICE has also earned the CJIS ACE Compliance Seal from Diverse Computing for NICE Investigate.
Additionally, NICE Investigate protects data through strong encryption, 2-factor login authentication, antivirus protection, built-in chain of custody tracking, and by having no inward firewall holes.
Recognized by Frost & Sullivan with the Leadership Award for Investigation and Evidence Management
In late 2017, NICE earned Frost & Sullivan’s prestigious Technology Leadership Award for Investigation and Evidence Management Solutions.
This award recognizes companies that demonstrate excellence in growth, innovation and leadership in their respective industries.
“Frost & Sullivan is honoring NICE with this Technology Leadership Award because of the company’s demonstrated leadership and commitment to driving innovation in digital evidence management for police departments,” said Danielle VanZandt, Security Industry Analyst, Aerospace, Defense & Security, Frost & Sullivan.
“The volume, variety and velocity of digital evidence is growing every day, and the current manual methods investigators use to collect, analyze and share it simply haven’t kept pace.”
“As the first and most comprehensive end-to-end cloud-based solution for managing digital evidence and investigations, NICE Investigate is uniquely equipped to bridge this gap.”
In announcing NICE’s selection for the Technology Leadership Award, Frost & Sullivan lauded NICE Investigate for its customer-centric innovations, proven ROI, superior integration and analytics capabilities, and workflow tools that bolster investigative efficiency and case solvability.
The report, in part, stated: “NICE is a leader in the digital investigation and evidence management industry, with solutions that are years ahead of the competition.”
“Competitors will struggle to match Investigate’s capabilities and will likely fall short due to NICE’s superior analytical and integration capabilities which position NICE for continued growth and mindshare in the future.”
Early research shows that using NICE Investigate, investigators can shave up to six hours off of each investigation, bringing justice to victims and resolution to cases much faster; and this is just the tip of the iceberg, because it only accounts for the time savings involved in collecting evidence.
Additionally, because evidence can be obtained, assembled and shared much more thoroughly and faster, there’s also a much greater likelihood of obtaining an early guilty plea.
This results in additional savings and community benefits down the road, by reducing the potential for additional bail processes, double-touching of the case, re-arrest, and so on.
“At a time when many police department budgets and resources are stretched thin in North America and around the world, NICE Investigate helps drive productivity, cost savings and increased case solvability through process automation and advanced analytics,” said Chris Wooten, Executive Vice President, NICE.
(Hear from former Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey, a nationally recognized leader in law enforcement with five decades of law enforcement service, discusses the challenges police departments face collecting, analyzing and sharing digital evidence, and shares his insights on how NICE Investigate, can help. Courtesy of NICE and YouTube)
NICE at a Glance
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NICE
- Platinum ‘ASTORS’ Award Winner
- NICE Inform Elite
- Best 911 Recording & Analytics Solution
- *Also a 2016 ‘ASTORS’ Award Winner
NICE, the Platinum Award Winner in the 2017 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Program for Best 911 Recording & Analytics Solution, is the worldwide leading provider of both cloud and on-premises enterprise software solutions that empower organizations to make smarter decisions based on advanced analytics of structured and unstructured data.
NICE helps organizations of all sizes deliver better customer service, ensure compliance, combat fraud and safeguard citizens.
Over 22,000 organizations in more than 150 countries, including over 80 of the Fortune 100 companies, are using NICE solutions.
NICE Investigate Competes in 2018 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Program
AST focuses on Homeland Security and Public Safety Breaking News, the Newest Initiatives and Hottest Technologies in Physical & IT Security, essential to meeting today’s growing security challenges.
The 2018 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Program, is organized to recognize the most distinguished vendors of Physical, IT, Port Security, Law Enforcement, Border Security, First Responders, (Fire, EMT, Military, Support Services Vets, SBA, Medical Tech) as well as the Federal, State, County and Municipal Government Agencies – to acknowledge their outstanding efforts to ‘Keep our Nation Secure, One City at a Time.’
As a 2018 ‘ASTORS’ Award Competitor, NICE Investigate will be competing against the industry’s leading providers of Innovative Investigation, Surveillance and Detection Product Solutions.
To Learn More about the ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Program, see 2017 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Award Winners Honored at ISC East.
Over 100 distinguished guests from National, State and Local Governments, and Industry Leading Corporate Executives from companies allied to Government, gathered from across North America and the Middle East to be honored from disciplines across the Security Industry in their respective fields which included representatives from:
The Department of Homeland Security- The Department of Justice
- The Security Exchange Commission
- State and Municipal Law Enforcement Agencies
- Leaders in Private Security
