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By Austin Hervias (DevSecOps Engineer) and Brendan Cronin (Co-founder, Head of Engineering)
Earlier this month, the ForceMetrics Engineering team joined modern data analytics pioneer Dremio to share how we're leveraging their technology to revolutionize police data processing. The technical showcase highlighted our journey from processing basic CSV files to implementing a sophisticated Apache Iceberg-based architecture that's transforming how law enforcement agencies access and analyze critical information. To watch the full webinar, click here.
As a GovTech startup managing terabytes of sensitive police data daily, we've built a scalable, secure data analytics platform while maintaining a lean engineering team. Our partnership with Dremio has been instrumental in enabling rapid search capabilities and cross-agency data sharing while meeting the strictest security requirements.
"The public largely overestimates the technology capabilities in policing," explains Brendan Cronin, our Co-founder and Head of Engineering. "Most systems were designed as data entry operations, never optimized for searching or surfacing information efficiently. The reality falls somewhere between basic data entry terminals and Hollywood's depiction of instantaneous access to any information."
The complexity of public safety data presents a unique challenge. At its core, agencies rely on two primary systems:
Beyond these core systems, agencies maintain specialized systems for geospatial data, license plate readers, jail management, and various other operational needs. Each system brings its own terminology, data structures, and integration challenges.
When we set out to solve the public safety data challenge, we knew traditional approaches wouldn't suffice. The solution required rethinking how data moves from initial capture to actionable intelligence.
"We had to start with solid foundations," explains Cronin. "If you're trying to build the world's most clever product around a terabyte of poorly organized data, it's not going to go well. We needed an architecture that could scale with our growth while maintaining the highest security standards."
Our innovative approach focuses on maintaining data integrity while enabling rapid access and analysis. By leveraging Dremio's powerful data lakehouse platform, we've built a system that transforms how agencies interact with their data, making it both more accessible and more secure.
"In public safety, speed isn't just about efficiency - it can be a matter of officer and public safety," notes Austin Hervias, our DevSecOps Engineer. "When an officer needs information about a situation they're walking into, waiting minutes or hours isn't an option. Our architecture delivers critical insights in milliseconds."
Our partnership with Dremio has enabled us to push the boundaries of what's possible with public safety data. Their implementation of semantic data representation eliminates the traditional need for multiple copies of data as it moves through processing pipelines. This not only reduces storage costs, but allows us to maintain a clear lineage of how data has been transformed - crucial for maintaining the integrity of law enforcement records.
Dremio's advanced query optimization leverages Apache Iceberg to deliver performance that would have seemed impossible with traditional approaches. "We've seen cases where what would typically be a 6-12 month implementation process has been completed in hours," explains Cronin. "This isn't just about technical efficiency – it's about transforming how quickly agencies can start deriving value from their data."
Our implementation of Dremio has delivered significant measurable impacts:
As public safety organizations continue to generate more data, the need for sophisticated data engineering solutions will only grow. Our innovative approach, powered by modern data lakehouse technology, provides a blueprint for how organizations can transform legacy systems into powerful, real-time intelligence platforms.
Our journey from startup to scale demonstrates how the right technical architecture, combined with a clear vision and strong partnerships like Dremio, can transform an industry. In the world of public safety technology, innovation isn't just about building new features – it's about fundamentally reimagining how we make critical information accessible when it matters most.