NCDPS
needs , from a public safety perspective , of the citizens of North Carolina ,” Mack says .
Adopting technology for a safer community As a government organisation , the NCDPS follows stringent protocols when implementing new technologies into its operations . Or , as Mack puts it , “ we are a government department and so oftentimes , we ' re a little bit behind the eight ball when moving into some of the more streamlined solutions .” This really highlights the significance of his role and efforts in promoting the use of beneficial technologies across the organisation .
Over the past two years , the NCDPS has adapted to the restrictions imposed by the pandemic while ensuring the safety and detention of a population of more than 100,000 offenders and probationers in various stages of the correction process . It had already leveraged the use of services like Office 365 from Microsoft and Cisco voice over IP and unified collaboration solutions , as well as solution support from Presidio in its daily operations . “ But , we are still exploring how to really utilise and benefit from the cloud ,” Mack says .
Since the onset of COVID-19 , the department has successfully used digital tools to incorporate e-visitation and telemedicine into its correctional facilities , which has allowed offenders to maintain contact with their families from the prison facility and receive substantial medical attention without any further detriment to their health . This has also allowed for the continued operation of facilities , by protecting staff during the outbreak .
“ Obviously the pandemic helped to highlight a lot of our technology capabilities . And so , with the continued modernisation of our infrastructure and our solution set , we were able to utilise a lot of collaboration tools like Webex ( a Cisco tool ) and those tools lent themselves to introducing new solutions for our inmates like telemedicine and e-visitation ,” says Mack . “ So , we continue to modernise within the department for various reasons and it has embraced this technology to help accomplish and meet our goals .”
While technology development is critical for the future of the department , the
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