Texas-based Esper says it is working with the agency — the largest police department in the U.S., with more than 36,000 officers — to deploy the technology, an effort scheduled for completion in the third quarter of this year.
The department maintains a procedural manual with more than 3,000 pages that require “constant updating,” Esper said in a blog post announcing the work. The use of the cloud-based software will enable the police department to make those changes via digital, automated methods, and to track the revisions.
“NYPD’s mission has always been to enhance the quality of life in New York City. This means fostering a safe and fair city for our residents, commuters and our employees,” said NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Strategic Initiatives Danielle Pemberton in that blog post. “NYPD’s partnership with Esper allows us to build and maintain modern, transparent and equitable policies for our more than 50,000 employees to better serve the great people of this city. These types of strategic partnerships set us up not only for success today, but for the future.”
The deal with NYPD comes months after Esper raised $8 million in a Series A funding round as the company strives to sell its single, unified platform technology to more government agencies looking to bring their policy processes further into the digital age.
“Governments are creating thousands of policies every single year,” said Maleka Momand, the firm’s CEO and co-founder, at the time. “And policymaking is spread out among a lot of different systems like Word, SharePoint and Excel.”
Indeed, it’s not just police department policy where gov tech vendors are trying to make their mark with such platforms.
For instance, Aurigo, another Texas-based company, recently released a software product called Aurigo Engage that is designed to help officials collect public feedback during the capital planning process more efficiently than can be possible via such methods as emails and in-person town halls.
Back in New York City, the police department will use the Esper software “to draft and review policy and route it through the approval and clearance process,” the company said.
The tracking feature will enable the department to make sure its employees read new and updated policies and comply with them.
Additionally, the software could help the department gain Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies accreditation “by building and maintaining modern, transparent and equitable policies for their employees,” the Esper blog post reads.
