Envisage, whose customers include more than 11,000 public safety agencies including law enforcement, fire, military and more, has a variety of software in its portfolio. They include solutions for managing police officers’ incidents and complaints in the hope of identifying warning signs early and giving leadership a way to head off problems, as well as tools for training, budgeting and hiring. In 2018, it acquired another company that helps track exposure to harmful substances.
Guardian’s customer count is about 1,100, and its offering is more narrowly focused on performance and incident management. The company places an emphasis on rewarding good behavior on top of monitoring for problems.
The space of technology has received more attention in recent years as public calls to reform police departments have intensified. A core part of the movement revolves around racial bias in policing, which research has shown is widespread. One analysis from Stanford University’s Open Policing Project found that Black drivers are both more likely to be stopped by police than white drivers and more likely to be searched.
“[Guardian’s] widely adopted solutions are far superior to some of the flashy but unproven early warning tools that are based solely on algorithms,” Envisage CEO Ari Vidali said in a press release. “Their team has built a solution that flags behavioral patterns across unlimited, highly customizable dimensions but more importantly, the platform is focused on amplifying and sharing model behaviors which has been proven to fundamentally improve departmental culture. This acquisition will accelerate our roadmap towards a comprehensive Agency Management System for public safety.”
Guardian Tracking was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Indianapolis, while Envisage is 20 years old and is based in Bloomington, Ind.
