Agency at a Glance
Agency at a GlanceAgency: Lawrenceburg Police Department, Lawrenceburg, Tennessee
Sworn Officers: 36
Jurisdiction: 12.5 square miles
Population Served: ~14,000 residents (swelling to ~20,000 during business hours)
Call Volume: ~1,000 calls per month (including traffic stops)
Caliber Solutions Deployed: CAD, Mobile CAD, Online RMS, Evidence Management, NCIC/CJIS Mobile Access, AVL
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Where They Started: A System That Couldn’t Keep Up
Not long ago, officers at the Lawrenceburg Police Department were handwriting their reports. The department’s previous records management system was a daily frustration. Pulling information back out of the system was difficult and time-consuming; accreditation proofs were hard to locate and compile, and an evidence management capability that had been promised simply never materialized.
When a citizen filed a complaint, the process of investigating it was entirely manual. Supervisors had to pull in each involved officer individually to collect written statements, gather the complainant’s account, and try to piece together what happened. A single complaint could consume an entire day, sometimes two.
As Lieutenant Ben McDow puts it: “If you can’t get your info back out of the system, then what’s the point of putting it in there?”
The department knew it was time for a change. They just needed to find a partner, not just a vendor, who would make the investment worthwhile.
Making the Choice: Why Caliber
The Lawrenceburg Police Department did its due diligence. Multiple vendors were invited to give demonstrations, with at least two other software providers presenting alongside Caliber Public Safety. But several factors tipped the scales decisively.
First, the Lawrence County E-911 Center had been running Caliber’s dispatch software for years. The dispatchers had no intention of switching, and Lt. McDow recognized a critical opportunity. Rather than paying a premium for complex data transfers between mismatched systems, Lawrenceburg could build on a foundation that already existed in its county.
“If we’re going to spend the money, let’s just go ahead and get what’s going to give us the best product for our expense,” Lt. McDow told his Chief. “Let’s use something that’s going to work with our existing CAD system. In the event that other agencies in the county go live, we can start sharing data and really increase our enforcement footprint.”
Second, the user-friendliness of Caliber’s interface was immediately apparent during the demonstration. Deputy Chief Englett recalls that what sold him was “the user-friendliness of it and the way it ties into our existing dispatch software and just generally its capabilities over some of the others.”
Third, it was a fiscal responsibility decision. Lawrenceburg is a city of 14,000 people. Every dollar of public money has to count. The leadership saw Caliber as the choice that delivered the most capability per tax dollar, especially when factoring in the ability for future county-wide data sharing.
Implementation: A Partner on the Ground
When it came time to go live, Caliber didn’t just ship software and send a link to a help desk. Lee Stancill, Manager of Educational Services and Project Management, came to Lawrenceburg and stayed through the onboarding process, providing what Lt. McDow describes as true “white glove service.”
The transition was not without its challenges. The department’s historical data formats did not align cleanly with the new system, and migrating years of records required significant manual effort. Stancill spent many hours, sometimes working late into the evenings, building XML data correlation sheets to ensure that Lawrenceburg’s records made the migration intact.
“That right there is what really sold me on his commitment, not only to this company, but to the product itself,” Lt. McDow says. “He didn’t have to, and he did it anyway.”
Having an expert on-site during go-live meant that small issues were resolved in real time. Officers and administrators could watch over Stancill’s shoulder as he worked through configuration adjustments, giving them the knowledge to handle similar tasks on their own in the future. When a new Tennessee Code Annotated statute for unlawful camping was enacted after go-live, for example, the department was able to add it to the system itself in three to four minutes.
Deputy Chief Englett sums up the transition simply: “Our transition into Caliber was phenomenal. It was easy.”
The Impact: Real Results Across the Department
Faster Access to Information
One of the most immediate and tangible improvements was speed. In the previous system, pulling a report was an exercise in frustration. Now, Lt. McDow says, “By the time you log in and find the report, you’re three minutes or less, and you’re reading it.”
When the Chief receives a call about a prior incident, the department can now pull the call-for-service record, the associated report, and even body camera footage across two screens in a matter of minutes. The full picture of an incident is available almost immediately, without having to tell the caller, “Let me get back to you.”
Accountability and Transparency with Data
In a time of increased public scrutiny on policing, Lawrenceburg found that Caliber’s reporting and mapping tools gave them the ability to respond to questions and complaints with facts.
Full transparency for their citizens matters. If anyone wants to know specifics about something like traffic stops, Lt. McDow can now quickly pull the calls-for-service data, generate a heat map of all traffic stop activity in the city for the relevant time period, and present it within five minutes. Questions are resolved with clear, indisputable evidence.
In another example of transparency, Lt. McDow worked with the city’s code enforcement official to address concerns about a problem apartment complex. Using the calls-for-service search feature, he was able to demonstrate that the complex in question was generating three times more calls than any other comparably sized apartment complex in the city. Real data drove a real conversation, which leads to real enforcement solutions.
“In today’s world, they demand transparency, and we have the tools now,” Lt. McDow says. “It used to be an officer’s word versus a complainant’s word. Now it’s just, here’s the raw data, and there’s no disputing it.”
Reducing Officer Complaints and Administrative Burden
The combination of Caliber’s RMS and the department’s body camera system has reduced officer complaints to near zero. The word has gotten out in the community: the department has the data to pull up a report, the CAD record, and the body camera footage to see exactly what happened in every situation. Everything is documented.
For supervisors, what used to be a one- or two-day process of investigating a citizen complaint now takes a couple of hours at the most. Officers are more confident on patrol, knowing the record speaks for itself, and supervisors spend less time chasing paperwork.
A Recruiting Advantage in a Competitive Market
Perhaps the most unexpected benefit has been recruitment. At one point, Lawrenceburg was down 13 officers out of 36, more than a third of its force. As a municipal agency, it simply cannot match state-level salaries. Lt. McDow made the case to leadership that if they couldn’t compete on pay, they could compete on tools and technology.
It worked. One officer, who was not looking to change agencies, happened to walk past a patrol car and noticed Mobile CAD running on the MDT screen. He asked what it was. The following week, he submitted an application. He is now a detective with the department.
“This generation of law enforcement officers, they see all these tools that nobody else in the county has, and they’re like, ‘Man, that’s really cool,'” Lt. McDow says. “They know they’re not going to make state money, but they know they’re going to have the most high-quality equipment we could possibly get them. And that is a recruiting tool in and of itself.”
Investigative Power at Officers’ Fingertips
For criminal investigators, the ability to search for a name in the RMS and instantly see every associated report, traffic stop, known associate, and address has changed how cases are built.
In one case, a license plate reader flagged a vehicle matching a suspect description in a stolen property investigation. The department cross-referenced the tag number in the RMS and found a complete history, including an up-to-date address that was more current than the state registration file. Officers drove directly to the location, found the suspect, and recovered the stolen property.
“It just made that case so much easier,” Lt. McDow recalls.
In another instance, when property came up missing, and the only lead was a vehicle description, Lt. McDow started searching for vehicles and names in the RMS. In a small town where everyone knows everyone, one name connected to an address, which connected to another association, and the case was solved. “Somebody got in and got to typing up info,” he says, “and next thing you know, that’s a case that was solved.”
Emergency Operations: Stood Up in 15 Minutes
Caliber’s Mobile CAD faced its first large-scale test during a major winter storm that hit Lawrence County in January 2026. With downed trees blocking roads across the county, the department activated its Emergency Operations Center. Representatives from the Sheriff’s Department, Police, EMS, County Fire, and Emergency Management were all in one room.
Using Mobile CAD, they set up a secondary dispatch center on the fly in approximately 15 minutes. Emergency calls continued flowing to the primary dispatch center, while the EOC handled non-emergency service calls like downed trees and road blockages. Responders in the field initiated their own CAD entries directly from mobile devices. The emergency manager tracked unit locations and response times from the CAD display on the big screen, generating accurate records for FEMA reimbursement.
“You can put up on the big TV screen the Mobile CAD, and you’ve got users sitting there using it. It helps take the load off dispatch,” Lt. McDow says.
The system allowed the department to track every resource, every response, and every minute of the event, all critical for federal reimbursement documentation.
It was the department’s first large-scale emergency using the Caliber system. Lt. McDow has since been working with County Fire and EMS to prepare for the next event. “When this happens again, we’ll be that much more prepared.”
Evidence Management That Actually Works
The department now uses barcode scanners and printers integrated with Caliber’s evidence management capabilities. When an officer places evidence in a temporary locker, the evidence technician scans the barcode, and the system immediately displays the associated report and case information. They check it into the vault, assign a shelf location, and the record updates in real time. Checking evidence in and out for lab transport is a scan-and-go process, replacing the mountains of manual paperwork and physical logbooks of the past.
Accreditation and Grant Reporting Made Manageable
Before his promotion to Deputy Chief, Hughie Englett served as the department’s accreditation manager. Under the previous system, locating the information needed to compile accreditation proofs was one of his biggest headaches.
“Getting information out of that previous system was so hard to manage our accreditation proofs,” Deputy Chief Englett says. “Now it’s so much easier to locate the information, pull the report, pull the proofs. When you put good information into the system, you get great information back out.”
Grant reporting for the department’s THSO (Tennessee Highway Safety Office) grants has seen the same improvement. Pulling accurate stats and compliance data is no longer a multi-day ordeal.
Support That Shows Up When It Matters
For Lt. McDow, the quality of Caliber’s ongoing support has been just as important as the product itself. After the implementation project closed, he deliberately tested the support process, submitting tickets for various issues to see what the experience would be like without his implementation specialist on speed dial.
“Every single time, within the hour, I’ve got a response. I’ve got a phone call; I’ve got an email. That’s even off hours, weekends, holidays.”
The January 2026 winter storm provided the ultimate proof. On a Sunday at 10:30 AM, while helping County Fire and EMS add emergency units through an admin console he had never used before, Lt. McDow submitted a support ticket. Fifteen minutes later, a support team member called him back. The technician was in Michigan, shoveling snow out of his driveway, when the ticket came in. He walked Lt. McDow through the solution on the spot.
“I cannot speak enough to the responsiveness. Support has been awesome.”
Mobile CAD: Keeping Officers in the Field, not on the Radio
One benefit that runs through nearly every story the department tells is how Mobile CAD has changed daily patrol work. Because Lawrenceburg does not have its own dedicated dispatch center, its officers share the E-911 frequency with every agency in the county. When dispatchers are managing a house fire in another part of the county, a Lawrenceburg officer at a routine traffic stop doesn’t have to compete for airtime.
With Mobile CAD, officers input their own notes directly into the system. They can run their own NCIC queries from the vehicle. They can see all active calls without keying up the radio. And when there’s no need for a formal report, the pertinent information still lives in the CAD record for future reference.
“It’s information at your fingertips that we’ve never had before,” Lt. McDow says.
This also means that when a supervisor needs to review an officer’s activity, everything is already documented. Using AVL (Automatic Vehicle Location), Lt. McDow can pull a GPS map showing exactly where an officer traveled during a shift, down to specific traffic stop locations, broken out by an individual officer. For misconduct complaints or commendations alike, the record is there.
Looking Ahead
“Everywhere I go, I sing the praises of Caliber Public Safety,” Lt. McDow says. “Word of mouth is, I treat people right who treat me right, and y’all have been phenomenal.”
The department is also looking at how to deepen its coordination with County Fire and EMS, building on the foundation laid during the January 2026 winter storm EOC activation. Lt. McDow has embedded himself with those agencies to keep them current on the system, so the next emergency response will be even more coordinated.
For an agency of 36 officers serving a small Tennessee city, the investment in Caliber has paid dividends that go far beyond records management. It has made the department faster, more transparent, more accountable, and more attractive to the next generation of officers.
As Lt. McDow puts it: “A very efficient expenditure of the tax dollars.”