SceneDoc releases 3.0 upgrade focused on efficient sharing, team-based investigations

SceneDoc last week announced the availability of the 3.0 release of its policing-as-a-platform (PaaP) software that lets public-safety users automatically share evidence documentation for a given case to enable greater investigative collaboration, according to company co-founder and CEO Alex Kottoor.

SceneDoc previously supported the digital gathering of evidence, but that evidence had to be assembled manually—a time-consuming process, particularly when dealing with cases that involve large teams of personnel, Kottoor said. With SceneDoc 3.0, connected personnel automatically can share their evidence findings in near real time, he said.

“Our customers now have the ability to have hundreds of different resources at a given scene,” Kottoor said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications. “Everybody can independently collect, but one case leader can not only gain visibility into what those hundreds of people may be collecting at that scene, but—from a reporting and documentation perspective—the software’s going to have the intelligence to bring that all together and manage it under a single case number, occurrence number or event name.

“That’s definitely a big thing, not only for small agencies but for large agencies who are very used to addressing crime that requires fleets of folks.”

Sgt. William Hutchinson of the Palm Springs, Calif., police department echoed this sentiment.

“SceneDoc revolutionizes the way officers work in the field,” Hutchinson said in a prepared statement. “Gone are the days of driving back to the station to complete the most basic paperwork. Officers can access every form they need right from a mobile device.

“SceneDoc will drastically improve efficiency and save hundreds of man hours in the field allowing our officers to get their work done faster and free up time they need for important investigations and proactive police work.”

The benefits of SceneDoc 3.0 are not just limited to larger law-enforcement organizations, according to Special Constable Bill Gordon, information-technology manager for the Midland Police Service in Ontario, Canada.

“SceneDoc creates efficiency in what used to be an analog workflow by making it digital—with oversight—for the front-line guys,” Gordon said in a prepared statement. “This allows them to do reporting in a more organized/repeatable way. Plus, when it comes to smaller cases, it’s hard to justify bringing a crime scene photographer out; you can handle this process with SceneDoc.

“SceneDoc is also very efficient for high-volume cases. Our officers in the field can capture all the basic imagery evidence and notes needed. This is a boon for small and mid-sized agencies.”

SceneDoc lets departments set policies addressing which personnel can contribute evidence, have read-only access to evidence or have the ability to organize evidence for a specific case or incident, Kottoor said. This capability can save significant time in both the investigative and legal processes, he said.

“Now, I can send a secure link [to digital evidence associated with a case] not only to internal case stakeholders but to the DA’s office,” Kottoor said.