In the demanding world of criminal justice practitioners, subpoenas are essential components of the court process. However, managing their delivery and receipt often becomes a painstaking task for judicial and public safety professionals. Outdated paper delivery processes, communications gaps, and unknown schedulings conflicts can waste time and result in unnecessary errors, docket backlogs, and increased costs.

As law enforcement and fire departments across the nation struggle with staffing shortages, scheduling becomes an increasingly complex task. Departments must carefully balance serving the needs of their communities, protecting officers and firefighters safety, and operating within budgetary constraints. Failure to do this well can not only undermine safety but also create unnecessary costs for departments. In this article, we’ll look at some of the impacts that poor scheduling practices can have on police and fire departments and discuss strategies to improve scheduling outcomes.

For public safety agencies to carry out their wide range of duties effectively, employees must work in shifts that provide coverage 24 hours a day, seven days a week. To best support public safety and avoid burnout, efficient scheduling is critical. Collecting and analyzing workforce data provides actionable insight into staffing, demand, and performance trends. Managed properly, this kind of data analysis empowers decision makers to make scheduling choices that best serve both the public and public safety employees.

Law enforcement, fire departments, and EMS will be facing many workforce challenges throughout 2023. Staffing shortages, maintaining community trust, and elevated violent crime rates are some of the most pressing problems facing public safety agencies this year. Fortunately, new insights and technological advances provide opportunities for agencies to better meet these growing challenges.

The pandemic has had enormous impacts, especially in terms of employment. Not only has there been a massive shift toward remote work, but the “great resignation” has left many employers scrambling to fill positions—and certain industries have taken a bigger hit than others. Public agencies were among those struck the hardest, with employment in state governments dropping by 4.4% at the start of the pandemic.

COVID-19 altered many aspects of our lives, including our government and legal system. For those who work in courts or who have been involved in the legal system over the past few years, there have been a lot of changes. Notably, from local courts to federal courts, hearings had to be held virtually because of the pandemic. As COVID-19 restrictions fall away, the courts are deciding what the court process will look like in the future. Will remote hearings continue to be a part of the legal process, or will courts return to their in-person protocols following the pandemic?

When people hear the word firefighter, they often think of a person in full gear rushing into a burning building to save someone trapped inside. Firefighters are some of the bravest people out there, but there’s more to the job than risking their lives to help others in need. In this article, we will talk about how volunteer firefighters support departments, how to get more volunteers, and how to increase retention.

Life as a police officer is incredibly stressful. Not only do officers have to deal with dangerous and stressful situations, but they’re also often excluded from their communities. The continued popularity of social media and the stereotyping it often fuels has only increased the impact of forced isolation on police officers. Pair these stressors with the hundreds of others that can impact your officers in their work, and you have a recipe for police burnout.

Federal prisons face numerous challenges that make it difficult to demonstrate thought leadership. Employee recruitment and training, budget cuts, general civil unrest, employee retention rates, and changes in agency protocols and operation procedures are just a few of federal prison leaders' struggles. Additionally, issues in law enforcement like increasing attrition, expanding responsibilities, and consistent decreases in resources make creating a workforce that’s more representative of their communities an increasingly arduous task.

The National Employee Survey for Law Enforcement reveals that officers consider technology and training to be one of the top concerns in their departments. Nationwide, 95% of officers responded that their main concern was law enforcement training in areas such as de-escalation techniques, crisis resolution, and mental health management, and 89% said that technology, such as drones and less-lethal weaponry, was their second priority. Officers believe that technology will not only improve their policing ability but also mitigate their taxing workload. Technology is transforming our world, and the field of law enforcement is no exception. As innovations arise, agencies must introduce new technologies as well as train officers how to use them properly and effectively.