AI on the Beat: The Partnership Modernizing Public Safety Investigations

IRVINE, CA – December 11, 2025 – In police departments across the country, a silent crisis is unfolding. Investigators, already stretched thin, are drowning in a tsunami of digital evidence. Every investigation now generates terabytes of data from body-worn cameras, surveillance systems, smartphone videos, and social media feeds. Manually reviewing this mountain of information is a Sisyphean task, leading to investigative backlogs, strained resources, and delayed justice. A new strategic partnership, however, aims to turn this tide by equipping public safety agencies with a powerful AI-driven solution.

Veritone, a leader in enterprise AI, has joined forces with Strategic Communications, a technology integrator specializing in the public safety sector. The collaboration places Veritone's Intelligent Digital Evidence Management System (iDEMS) at the heart of Strategic Communications' JPS TRUST program, a nationwide initiative designed to help law enforcement and justice agencies modernize their operations. This isn't just another software sale; it's a fundamental shift in how critical technology is delivered to the front lines of public safety.

The AI Analyst: Beyond Manual Review

At the core of this initiative is the transformative power of Veritone's iDEMS platform. It moves agencies far beyond the archaic process of manually scrubbing through hours of video footage. Built upon Veritone's proprietary aiWARE platform, iDEMS acts as an AI-powered analyst, capable of processing and understanding vast quantities of unstructured data—audio, video, and documents—at a scale and speed no human team could match.

Imagine an investigator needing to find a specific suspect wearing a red jacket and carrying a backpack across hundreds of hours of video from multiple cameras. Instead of assigning a team to watch every second, the investigator can now simply query the system. AI models automatically scan the evidence, identifying and tagging objects, faces, and even spoken keywords. The system's capabilities include:

• Automated Transcription and Translation: Body camera and interview audio can be instantly transcribed and made searchable, turning spoken words into queryable text.
• Object and Person Detection: The AI can identify and track persons of interest, vehicles, and other objects across multiple video files, piecing together a suspect's movements without biometric data.
• Automated Redaction: To comply with privacy laws and FOIA requests, the system's Veritone Redact tool automatically blurs faces, license plates, and other personally identifiable information in video and audio files—a process that once took days can now be done in minutes.
• Evidence Discovery: The Veritone Illuminate application rapidly analyzes evidence to accelerate early case assessment, helping prosecutors and defense attorneys quickly grasp the key facts of a case.

"Veritone is proud to be a foundational partner for investigations within Strategic Communications’ public safety offering," said Jon Gacek, General Manager of Public Sector for Veritone, in a statement. "This collaboration brings our comprehensive iDEMS suite to even more agencies, giving investigators unprecedented tools to manage, analyze, and protect digital evidence throughout the investigative lifecycle."

A New Model for Modernization

While the technology is powerful, its true impact comes from the innovative delivery model. Many local and state agencies lack the resources or expertise to navigate the complex landscape of technology procurement. They face challenges in evaluating solutions, integrating them with legacy systems, and ensuring long-term support. This is the gap that Strategic Communications' JPS TRUST (Justice & Public Safety Technology Resources for Unifying Strategies & Tactics) program is designed to fill.

The JPS TRUST program acts as a trusted advisor and procurement vehicle, offering agencies a "one-stop shop" for vetted, state-of-the-art technology. By integrating Veritone's iDEMS as the lead investigations solution, Strategic Communications is effectively creating a pre-packaged, end-to-end modernization path for digital evidence management. This simplifies the adoption process, reduces risk, and accelerates the deployment of mission-critical tools.

"This collaboration advances our mission of delivering comprehensive, innovative solutions for our customers," noted Kathy Mills, CEO and President of Strategic Communications. "Partnering with Veritone allows us to deliver a robust, end-to-end investigation solution for our customers, helping agencies drive efficiency, accuracy, and transparency as they modernize their operations." This partnership model allows smaller agencies to access the same sophisticated AI capabilities as larger, metropolitan departments, leveling the technological playing field.

Unifying a Fractured Digital Landscape

One of the most significant challenges in modern investigations is the problem of data silos. Evidence from a single case might be stored on a body camera vendor's cloud platform, a separate server for CCTV footage, a digital forensics tool, and within a local case management system. This fragmentation creates immense friction, hindering collaboration and slowing down investigations.

Veritone’s iDEMS is engineered to solve this very problem. With an open architecture, it functions as a central hub, capable of ingesting and integrating data from a wide array of sources. This includes evidence from major public safety platforms like Axon's Evidence.com and Milestone Systems' XProtect, as well as data from consumer devices like Ring doorbells and DJI drones. By pulling all this disparate information into one unified, searchable platform, iDEMS provides investigators with a holistic view of a case, breaking down the walls between data silos and enabling a more cohesive analytical workflow.

Building Trust in a Digital Chain of Custody

In the world of criminal justice, the integrity of evidence is paramount. The introduction of AI into this sensitive domain rightly brings questions of security, compliance, and trust. The partnership directly addresses these concerns by building the solution on a foundation of security and transparency.

The iDEMS platform is fully CJIS-compliant, meeting the FBI's stringent security standards for handling sensitive criminal justice information. Every action taken within the system—from ingestion to analysis to sharing—is logged in an immutable audit trail, preserving a verifiable chain of custody that can withstand courtroom scrutiny. Furthermore, by automating redaction, the system helps agencies protect witness and victim privacy while fulfilling public records requests transparently. This focus on security and compliance is not just a technical feature; it is essential for maintaining public trust in the justice system as it adopts increasingly powerful technologies.

The combined strengths of Veritone’s AI prowess and Strategic Communications’ deep public sector expertise represent a force multiplier for agencies striving to improve both operational outcomes and their impact on the community. This collaboration is more than a business deal; it is a blueprint for the future of public safety technology, where innovation is made accessible, manageable, and trustworthy for the agencies tasked with protecting and serving.