Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, Part 3: Better Serving Those Who Serve and Protect
As the General Manager of Cardinal Peak Technologies, I’ve continually surprised myself by choosing to spend many of my vacation days immersed in the world of our customers. The trend began three years ago with a simple ride-along with the Tulsa Police Department. Next, I spent 18 days in Afghanistan supporting our special forces. Most recently, I enjoyed a ten-week stint at the FBI’s Citizens Academy—an experience I still can’t stop talking about. Never before Cardinal Peak had I found myself wanting to spend my free time doing work-related things. But the difference here is clear—we have the best customers and I deeply respect the work that they do.
I’m not alone in my passion. Everyone here at Cardinal Peak has come to realize how rewarding it is to support those who serve and protect the very communities in which we live and work. There’s something so satisfying about going to sleep each night, knowing your work helps the good guys put the bad ones behind bars.
I’ve learned that understanding the needs of the law enforcement community is an ever-evolving process. At the outset, as I spent time on the ground with military investigators, polygraphers, child advocacy examiners, sheriff’s officers, and local detectives, I quickly gained an appreciation for how difficult it was for them to keep up with the latest advancements in technology. After all, they could ill afford time spent behind a computer; they needed to be out in the community, actively fighting crime. That’s where our company came in, creating the perfect synergistic relationship: law enforcement needed us to make their work more efficient and we have all found great satisfaction in doing important work that supports the safety of our communities.
In the early years of our relationship with various law enforcement agencies, the needs were simple. All investigators really needed for their interview recording equipment was a button to push that reliably recorded audio and video that could easily be copied to a DVD and placed into evidence. As time passed and technology advanced, our users’ needs became more sophisticated. Today, they need to be able to search through hundreds of recordings for similar elements; sit in one building and watch a live recording in another; upload or rely on an auto-export of a video to cloud storage, where it can be shared with anyone in the world. New recruits fresh out of college are naturally adept at new technology and have come to expect it in their workplaces.
As needs changed, so did our target audience. We started out in very small one- and two-room police departments that rarely recorded interviews.
In just three years of our first sale, the U.S. Department of Defense took an interest in the CaseCracker system and set a strong precedent by recording their interviews. In just a few short months, our interview recording system product was found in military bases all over the world, and when those soldiers left the military and entered law enforcement, they requested CaseCracker at their state and local departments as well.
Today, our interview recording systems are used by more than just law enforcement agencies. Hospitals are using our interview room management systems to record patient behaviors as they meet all HIPPA security requirements. Casinos record staff accused of internal theft and patrons accused of counting cards. Insurance agencies record clients reporting fraudulent claims. Federal agencies under the purview of the Department of Justice are opting to record in service of transparency and community goodwill. Innovative implementations of our interview recording system continue to surprise and inspire me. I cannot wait to see where we’ll land next.
The reason why I’m so willing to opt for experiences that will get me inside my customers’ heads is because I love how this business is always changing. Not only is technology advancing at a rapid rate, but our customers’ needs are evolving right alongside it. The race to better serve those that serve our community is both exciting and rewarding, a perk not all find in their work, but one I am ever grateful for.
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