Alabama Law Enforcement Agency streamlines ArcGIS deployments to advance public safety initiatives with Esri and Microsoft Azure

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) uses cloud-based mapping solution ArcGIS, made by Microsoft partner Esri, to support state law enforcement initiatives, but ALEA’s deployment timeline for a custom suite of ArcGIS capabilities was five weeks.

ALEA turned to Microsoft and Esri for help with developing a Microsoft Azure–based deployment acceleration solution that would streamline its ArcGIS deployment timeline and give the agency more time to advance public safety initiatives.

The agency’s acceleration tool improved the deployment timeline from five weeks to two hours and offered enhanced visibility into field operations. ALEA estimates that its teams are saving seven to nine weeks of work time with the new solution.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) is empowering public safety agencies and officers across the state with streamlined access to geographic-based insights. ALEA is an active user of Esri’s ArcGIS software, a powerful geographic information system (GIS) that provides tools to capture, view, edit, manage, analyze, and share data in the context of location. ALEA monitors officer movements and coordinates multiagency initiatives with ArcGIS and helps coordinate GIS activities across Alabama. The agency turned to Microsoft and Esri, a top-tier Microsoft partner, to create a deployment acceleration template. ALEA can now deploy a customized base deployment of ArcGIS Enterprise, tailored to Microsoft and Esri’s best practices, to customers in just two hours. ALEA’s custom deployment template boosts productivity and efficiency, serving as a model for other public sector organizations looking to optimize their GIS operations.¹

“With map-based visualization tools, we’re able to see in real time where events—including robbery, motor theft, or organized crime—are happening around the city. It helps us determine where to focus law enforcement efforts.”

Jared Bostic, Deputy Geographic Information Officer for Alabama and GIS Manager, Alabama Law Enforcement Agency

Enhancing law enforcement initiatives with GIS

Providing a safe and secure environment for local communities to thrive is at the heart of law enforcement activities. ALEA is dedicated to providing safety and quality service to Alabama’s 5 million residents. Since 2015, ALEA has embraced cloud technology to enhance its public safety mission. GIS plays a crucial role in monitoring law enforcement activities across the state.

ALEA relies on ArcGIS, a cloud-based mapping and analysis solution, to track its GIS activities. With ArcGIS, ALEA has enhanced visibility into field operations, tracking law enforcement officers in real time. ALEA personnel help coordinate GIS operations across the state and were eager to empower more law enforcement officers and agencies with efficient access to ArcGIS. A typical deployment timeline of ArcGIS Enterprise for ALEA and its customers was five weeks because of the manual processes required to customize the solution.

To streamline deployment and installation, ALEA began working with Microsoft and Esri, who collaborated to create a custom deployment template using Microsoft Azure. “We took our standard, published GitHub repository template for deploying ArcGIS Enterprise and customized it for ALEA, Azure, and Esri best practices,” says Joe Weyl, Senior Solution Engineer at Esri.

Driving innovation through collaboration

The partnership between Microsoft and Esri fueled ALEA’s success. ALEA convened weekly meetings between its GIS and IT professionals, Microsoft experts, and representatives from Esri to develop the customized deployment template. “It wasn’t just our collaboration with Microsoft—it was also with Esri,” says Phillip Henderson, Geographic Information Officer of Alabama and GIS Administrator at ALEA. “Without that collaboration, this couldn’t have happened.” ALEA developed its new acceleration template in eight months, improving its deployment timeline from five weeks to two hours, an astonishing 98% reduction.

With its innovative solution in place, ALEA can quickly add new accounts and servers, test upgrades, and create new environments to support law enforcement operations across the state. “With the Azure environment, it’s easy for us to stand up additional servers and resources,” says Jared Bostic, Deputy Geographic Information Officer for Alabama and GIS Manager at ALEA. “For example, we were very quickly able to add servers to support ArcGIS Mission on Azure and use that application to monitor agents on the ground in real time.”

ALEA now has enhanced visibility into event operations across Alabama. The agency has improved peer-to-peer communication and enjoys better coordination during events such as the gubernatorial inauguration. ALEA rapidly deploys visualization tools for critical operations, including coordinated multiagency efforts like the Metro Area Crime Suppression Unit aimed at advancing public safety in Montgomery, Alabama. “With map-based visualization tools, we’re able to see in real time where events—including robbery, motor theft, or organized crime—are happening around the city,” says Bostic. “It helps us determine where to focus law enforcement efforts.”

“The impact was amazing. We can build the environment and have it up and running within two hours, increasing productivity because we don’t have to allocate as much time to making sure all these incremental things are getting done.”

Vernon Ford, System Administrator and Cloud Administrator for Azure, Alabama Law Enforcement Agency

Advancing public safety with seven to nine weeks of time savings per deployment

The dramatic improvement in ArcGIS deployment time is empowering ALEA to focus on core law enforcement activities. ALEA estimates that its teams are saving seven to nine weeks of work time each time they deploy ArcGIS, a significant enhancement to the agency’s ability to advance public safety. “The impact was amazing,” says Vernon Ford, System Administrator and Cloud Administrator for Azure at ALEA. “We can build the environment and have it up and running within two hours, increasing productivity because we don’t have to allocate as much time to making sure all these incremental things are getting done.”

ALEA’s cloud-based accelerator is being adopted by organizations across Alabama and beyond, with implementations in other states and even internationally, demonstrating its broad applicability. “We are the GIS office for the state, and I can point other organizations to the Alabama GIS Office website to download the deployment accelerator,” says Henderson. “I recently heard that someone in Singapore had downloaded the accelerator, and it was encouraging to me to know that it’s everywhere.”

“The deployment accelerator is a small step toward the future for cloud solutions innovation. With additional Azure innovations, we can automate and accelerate processes to increase the productivity and the flow of operations, minimize work hours, and make things more efficient.”

Vernon Ford, System Administrator and Cloud Administrator for Azure, Alabama Law Enforcement Agency

Embracing a cloud-based vision to drive efficiency

As ALEA looks ahead, the partnership between Microsoft and Esri in support of public safety organizations highlights the potential for future innovations. “The deployment accelerator is a small step toward the future for cloud solutions innovation,” says Ford. “With additional Azure innovations, we can automate and accelerate processes to increase the productivity and the flow of operations, minimize work hours, and make things more efficient.”

ALEA is actively strengthening its commitment to public safety by leading the way in GIS implementation for law enforcement, demonstrating its mission of providing quality service, protection, and safety for the people of Alabama.

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¹ The Deployment Accelerator is available at the Alabama GIS Office website.