POSS takes a workforce management approach to scheduling, built on a framework used with related organizations and industries including corrections, fire, and EMS. While it can be used on its own, it is intended to work best as part of a full municipal scheduling management package to stitch emergency and first responder services together.Â

This is the list that will help you know if the software you’re looking at actually provides a benefit or just adds another layer of frustration disguised under flashy tech.

Officers can request time off, set their availability on days off, and book themselves for open shifts or overtime details using Connecteam’s mobile app. Supervisors can immediately respond to requests, and officers will receive an instant push notification letting them know if their OT or time-off request was approved.Â

Some police officer scheduling systems have lots of bells and whistles, but they don’t necessarily provide real benefits that fit what you need. You shouldn’t pay for what you won’t use, and it’s the core features, like what When I Work offers, that are designed to save time and energy:

It’s clear that as the skies open up for more drone usage, law enforcement will push to procure more of these flying surveillance tools. But police and lawmakers must exercise far more skepticism over what may ultimately prove to be a flashy trend that wastes resources, infringes on people's rights, and results in unforeseen shifts in policing strategy. The public must be kept aware of how cops are coming for their privacy from above.

With their birds-eye view, drones can observe individuals in previously private and constitutionally protected spaces, like their backyards, roofs, and even through home windows. And they can capture crowds of people, like protestors and other peaceful gatherers exercising their First Amendment rights. Drones can be equipped with cameras, thermal imaging, microphones, license plate readers, face recognition, mapping technology, cell-site simulators, weapons, and other payloads. Proliferation of these devices enables state surveillance even for routine operations and in response to innocuous calls —situations unrelated to the original concerns of terrorism or violent crime originally used to justify their adoption.

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You already know the importance of using the right software when it comes to law enforcement. Evidence management, information sharing, incident planning, investigation—nearly everything you do involves some kind of software.

DFR programs are just one way police are acquiring drones, but law enforcement and UAV manufacturers are interested in adding drones in other ways, including as part of regular patrols and in response to high-speed vehicle pursuits. These uses also create the risk of law enforcement bypassing important safeguards.  Reasonable protections for public privacy, like robust use policies, are not a barrier to public safety but a crucial part of ensuring just and constitutional policing.

A police officer scheduling system is crucial for law enforcement agencies for several reasons. It helps ensure adequate staffing levels, reduces scheduling conflicts, and improves overall efficiency. By automating the scheduling process, it saves time and minimizes errors. It also allows agencies to respond quickly to changing circumstances, such as emergencies or unforeseen absences, by easily reassigning shifts and managing replacements.

eSchedule makes it simple to create schedules for police officers. Like other similar scheduling apps, it offers updates on schedule changes in real time.

“For residents we spoke to,” Wired wrote, “the discrepancy raises serious concerns about the accuracy and reliability of the department's transparency efforts—and experts say the use of the drones is a classic case of self-perpetuating mission creep, with their existence both justifying and necessitating their use.”

Artificial intelligence dominated the technology talk on panels, among sponsors, and across the trade floor at this year’s annual conference of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP).IACP, held Oct. 19 - 22 in Boston, brings together thousands of police employees with the businesses who want to sell them...

Policedrones at night

Communication happens within the app, with real-time notifications to let your officers know of schedule changes and any critical information that pops up about the schedule. On top of that, flexible pricing adjusts with your team growth.

Our comparison table helps you see how the 10 best police officer scheduling systems stack up in terms of pricing, features, and messaging capabilities.

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California law enforcement should take note: the state’s Attorney General has issued a new bulletin advising them on how to comply with AB 481—a state law that regulates how law enforcement agencies can use, purchase, and disclose information about military equipment at their disposal. This important guidance comes...

Police DFR programs involve a fleet of drones, which can range in number from four or five to hundreds. In response to 911 calls and other law enforcement calls for service, a camera-equipped drone is launched from a regular base (like the police station roof) to get to the incident first, giving responding officers a view of the scene before they arrive. In theory and in marketing materials, the advance view from the drone will help officers understand the situation more thoroughly before they get there, better preparing them for the scene and assisting them in things such as locating wanted or missing individuals more quickly. Police call this “situational awareness.”

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Scheduling, time tracking, and team communication is made simpler and faster, which reduces labor costs and employee turnover. It’s built for mobile, making it easy for police officers to stay connected, see their hours and overtime, and be aware of their schedule whether on or off duty, wherever they are.

PlanIt Police is a scheduling software that was built specifically for law enforcement and includes extra features that go beyond police officer scheduling. It allows you to track officer training, HR information, and checklists necessary when officers are on duty.

There are a lot of options out there. We’ve done the work for you and compiled a list of the top police officer scheduling systems to help you make the best decision for your department and your officers.

Before we get started, you should understand the basic benefits of a police officer scheduling system so you know a good one when you see it. A great system provides:

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Built to pair with additional computer aided dispatch software, 10-8 police scheduling software will also work with other emergency response technology. Officers can pull it up on laptops while on patrol, can chat with others on and off shift, and can see their schedules from any internet-connected device.

A police officer scheduling system is a software solution specifically designed to assist law enforcement agencies in creating, managing, and optimizing work schedules for police officers. It automates the scheduling process, taking into account various factors such as officer availability, shift requirements, time-off requests, and fair distribution of work.

The Federal Trade Commission has entered a settlement with self-styled “weapon detection” company Evolv, to resolve the FTC’s claim that the company “knowingly” and repeatedly” engaged in “unlawful” acts of misleading claims about their technology. Essentially, Evolv’s technology, which is in schools, subways, and stadiums, does far less...

Canpoliceuse drones without a warrant

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into our criminal justice system is one of the most worrying developments across policing and the courts, and EFF has been tracking it for years. EFF recently contributed a chapter on AI’s use by law enforcement to the American Bar Association’s annual publication, ...

Connecteam is a police officer scheduling system that allows supervisors and officers to make changes right from the mobile device.

DFR programs have been growing in popularity since first launched by the Chula Vista Police Department in 2018. Now there are a few dozen departments with known DFR programs among the approximately 1,500 police departments known to have any drone program at all, according to EFF’s Atlas of Surveillance, the most comprehensive dataset of this kind of information. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulates use of drones and is currently mandated to prepare new regulations for how they can be operated beyond the operator’s line of sight (BVLOS), the kind of long-distance flight that currently requires a special waiver. All the while, police departments and the companies that sell drones are eager to move forward with more DFR initiatives.

Skip the hassle and start scheduling your force today. Try When I Work with no obligation when you sign up for a free 14-day free trial.

inTime is a first responder and police scheduling system that has a base option for everything you’d need to build a schedule. You can also plug in additional modules to the base software, including training management, asset and equipment management, court and subpoena scheduling and management, shift bidding, and a time clock. The option to integrate with computer aided dispatch and other web services is available as well.

Transparency around the acquisition and use of drones will be important to the effort to protect civilians from government and police overreach and abuse as agencies commission more of these flying machines. A recent Wired investigation raised concerns about Chula Vista’s program, finding that roughly one in 10 drone flights lacked a stated purpose, and for nearly 500 of its recent flights, the reason for deployment was an “unknown problem.” That same investigation also found that each average drone flight exposes nearly 5,000 city residents to enhanced surveillance, primarily in predominantly Black and brown neighborhoods.

A police officer scheduling system can contribute to improved officer morale in multiple ways. It allows officers to have more visibility and control over their schedules by accommodating their availability preferences and time-off requests. Fair and balanced shift assignments promote a sense of equity and prevent burnout. Moreover, by reducing scheduling conflicts and ensuring adequate staffing, officers can have a better work-life balance and more predictable schedules, leading to increased job satisfaction.

Chula Vista's "Drone-Related Activity Dashboard" indicates that more than 20 percent of drone flights are welfare checks or mental health crises, while only roughly 6% are responding to assault calls. Chula Vista Police claim that the DFR program lets them avoid potentially dangerous or deadly interactions with members of the public, with drone responses resulting in their department avoiding sending a patrol unit in response to 4,303 calls. However, this theory and the supporting data needs to be meaningfully evaluated by independent researchers.

Choosing the right employee schedule software for your police department is an important decision. You’ll need to balance the needs of management with the needs of your officers and support staff. Using the guidelines in this article can help you be sure everyone benefits from your selection. The right solution will make your scheduling easier and increase engagement from your team.Â

This type of analysis is not possible without transparency around the program in Chula Vista, which, to its credit, publishes regular details like the location and reason for each of its deployments. Still, that department has also tried to prevent the public from learning about its program, rejecting California Public Records Act (CPRA) requests for drone footage. This led to a lawsuit in which EFF submitted an amicus brief, and ultimately the California Court of Appeal correctly found that drone footage is not exempt from CPRA requests.

Canpolicedrones see in your house

In its recent report, Civil Rights Implications of Face Recognition Technology (FRT), the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights identified serious problems with the federal government’s use of face recognition technology, and in doing so recognized EFF’s expertise on this issue. The Commission focused its investigation on the Department of...

The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, which handles all prosecutions in the Seattle area, has instructed police in no uncertain terms: do not use AI to write police reports...for now. This is a good development. We hope prosecutors across the country will exercise such caution as companies continue to...

While some might take for granted that the government is not allowed to conduct surveillance — intentional, incidental, or otherwise — on you in spaces like your fenced-in backyard, this is not always the case. It took a lawsuit and a recent Alaska Supreme Court decision to ensure that police in that state must obtain a warrant for drone surveillance in otherwise private areas. While some states do require a warrant to use a drone to violate the privacy of a person’s airspace, Alaska, California, Hawaii, and Vermont are currently the only states where courts have held that warrantless aerial surveillance violates residents’ constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure absent specific exceptions.

Communities expect 24/7 protection, but you have to keep in mind things like Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime requirements, contracts, union agreements, training needs and requirements, staffing shortages, and tight budgets. Let’s not forget how emergency situations can easily shred the best schedule.

Snap Schedule is an employee scheduling and management system that comes as either software to install on your computer, or to access as software in the cloud. The latter allows employees to see their schedules on mobile devices. Officers and scheduling staff have “self-service” access for clocking in and out and requesting shifts, while managers can define work locations (e.g. patrol routes) for each officer.

Plus, because all of your scheduling and time tracking data is on the same platform as When I Work Payroll, you can run payroll in a single click, without having to upload or sync data. And you’ll be able to see your labor costs in real time, instead of just an estimate that other providers offer.

Check out this more in-depth comparison of the best officer scheduling systems so you can see which solution is right for you and your team.

Law enforcement wants more drones, and we’ll probably see many more of them overhead as police departments seek to implement a popular project justifying the deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs): the “drone as first responder” (DFR).

Police DroneOperator salary

This post was written by Gowri Nayar, an EFF legal intern. Imagine driving to get your nails done with your family and all of a sudden, you are pulled over by police officers for allegedly driving a stolen car. You are dragged out of the car and detained at gun...

The post was written by Laura Vidal (PhD), independent researcher in learning and digital rights.This is part two of a series. Part one on surveillance and control around the July election is here.Over the past decade, the government in Venezuela has meticulously constructed a framework of surveillance...

Companies are eager to tap this growing market. Police technology company Axon —known for its Tasers and body-worn cameras — recently acquired drone company Dedrone, specifically citing that company’s efforts to push DFR programs as one reason for the acquisition. Axon since has established a partnership with Skydio in order to expand their DFR sales.

Like many scheduling software options, Vector Solutions lets you manage your schedule through mobile devices. It also allows you to define limits to stay in compliance with union and regulatory requirements. It even offers things like fatigue trackers to help prevent employee burnout by identifying officers who have been working a lot. Employee hiring callbacks and custom rules help you connect and assign the right people to the right shifts.

In practice, law enforcement's desire to get “a view of the scene” becomes a justification for over-surveilling neighborhoods that produce more 911 calls and for collecting information on anyone who happens to be in the drone’s path. For example, a drone responding to a vandalism case may capture video footage of everyone it passes along the way. Also, drones are subject to the same mission-creep issues that already plague other police tools designed to record the public; what is pitched as a solution to violent crime can quickly become a tool for policing homelessness or low-level infractions that otherwise wouldn't merit police resources.

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Yes, modern police officer scheduling systems are designed to handle complex scheduling requirements. They can accommodate various factors such as overlapping shifts, minimum rest periods, specific skill requirements for different shifts or locations, and rotation patterns. These systems offer advanced algorithms and customization options to create schedules that meet the unique needs of law enforcement agencies.

Clear policies around the use of drones are a valuable part of holding police departments accountable for their drone use. These policies must include rules around why a drone is deployed and guardrails on the kind of footage that is collected, the length of time it is retained, and with whom it can be shared.

Drones are also increasingly tied into other forms of surveillance. More departments — including those in Las Vegas, Louisville, and New York City — are toying with the idea of dispatching drones in response to ShotSpotter gunshot detection alerts, which are known to send many false positive alerts. This could lead to drone surveillance of communities that happen to have a higher concentration of ShotSpotter microphones or other acoustic gunshot detection technology. Data revealed recently shows that a disproportionate number of these gunshot detection sensors  are located in Black communities in the United States. Also, artificial intelligence is also being added to drone data collection; connecting what's gathered from the sky to what has been gathered on the street and through other methods is a trending part of the police panopticon plan.

The right scheduling software can turn what used to be a headache into a data-generating, communications-improving asset. You’ll understand your department better. You’ll see what’s happening now, what the trends are, and what your team needs.

ScheduleAnywhere allows supervisors to limit overtime, reduce the need for manual spreadsheets, and speed up scheduling processes. While initial schedules must be created manually, users can copy these rotations and schedule patterns to save time in the future.Â