The gap between too few officers and too many leads is widening—and that’s exactly where smart tech can actually serve people, not just impress them. Erik sits down with retired Grand Prairie veteran Kevin Cox—who built an intelligence center, stood up a drone program, and now helps agencies turn noisy data into usable truth—to unpack what really moves the needle: DFR done right, LPRs with guardrails, and analytics that turn “we should follow up on everything” into “we found the right thing fast.”

Kevin charts the path from early DJI airframes and battery headaches to today’s drone-as-first-responder pods that launch in minutes and arrive with context. He explains why language matters—ditch “force multiplier,” speak in terms of speed, accuracy, and accountability—and how policy and audit trails preserve public trust. We go deep on data: merging messy master-name indexes, mining body-cam transcripts for the one overheard clue, tying LPR hits to CAD and RMS, and surfacing the top leads so detectives can be heroes more often. Deconfliction isn’t a buzzword here; it’s officer safety and case integrity, with live alerts that keep units—and neighboring agencies—from colliding.

We also take on a thorny topic: the rise of privatized policing. Kevin lays out the risks of HOA-style enforcement and a two-tier system, and shares a saner alternative—use private sensors to summon public law enforcement, keep state power public, and make oversight non-negotiable. Finally, for officers eyeing a second act, Kevin offers a candid roadmap: which tech roles fit different temperaments, how to prep years ahead, and how to translate street-earned skills into product, consulting, or sales without losing your sense of service.

If you care about faster outcomes, safer officers, and cases that hold up in court, this conversation is your field guide. Subscribe, share with a teammate, and leave a review telling us the one tool you think most improves time-to-truth.

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