No One Get's Fired For Choosing "X"

No One Ever Gets Fired For Choosing "X"

I hear this time and time again, the never fails reasoning for sticking with the status quo, "No One Gets In Trouble", read as "Even if it's horrible, I won't get in trouble".

In the ever changing world of technology, it truly can be exhausting to keep up with the changes. Never-mind the technology, which moves only slightly faster than the latest Space-X rocket launched by Elon. The technology space is full of takeover, acquisition, mergers, and creative "partnerships" which can result in a ton of great press and flashy marketing slicks, but the results are often a solid as a rotten tomato.

The amount of work that goes into evaluating technology for law enforcement can be an incredible burden, identifying companies/solutions, presentations, testing, IT involvement, political involvement... PROCUREMENT RULES!?

All of this work is certainly overwhelming, so the temptation to just "Pick The Winner" is heavy, sometimes the pressure comes from superiors or outside stakeholders to make a selection. These decisions impact not only the use of Tax Payer Dollars, but also the technology you and your officers will use for the next chapter in your service.

Officer safety alone, is a good enough reason to understand all your options, yet time and time again, I see departments go through the motions, but never genuinely evaluate all options. I witness good people in the process who ask the great questions of all vendors, yet their answers hold no weight when it comes to decisions.

This is not about certain companies winning or loosing, this is about what is best for the officers, and the fiduciary responsibility our elected officials have to the tax payers, to evaluate the total cost of ownership against the effective uses of technology.

When it comes to this process, my encouragement as an "insider" to the industry, evaluate, take the time to look at everyone, challenge the status quo, and understand what technology is the most effective, today, for your departments, not "What Everyone Else Is Using".

What are your thoughts?