Our Justice & Public Safety experience began long before ReasonedPath and before our work inside state government. In the private sector, that experience included designing and developing a Jail Management System used in multiple correctional facilities for more than 15 years. That work provided an early understanding of the importance of reliable technology, accurate information, and systems designed around the people and operational processes they support.

The experience expanded significantly when Kent became CIO of the New Mexico Department of Public Safety, where much of the work directly supported the New Mexico State Police and public safety agencies across the state. The environment was broad and mission-critical, spanning records management systems (RMS), computer-aided dispatch (CAD), body-worn and in-car video, digital evidence, automated license plate recognition (ALPR), real-time crime center (RTCC) platforms, cloud ecosystems, forensic laboratory systems, fleet systems, cybersecurity, data sharing, interoperability, and complex telecommunications. Responsibility for New Mexico's CJIS infrastructure brought 24/7/365 accountability for the core mission-critical technology supporting public safety operations statewide.

The work extended beyond individual systems. It included strengthening technology and cybersecurity organizations, establishing governance, securing and managing major technology investments, modernizing aging environments, improving procurement and delivery practices, and developing a statewide data platform to bring information together across organizational and system boundaries. These initiatives required close collaboration with executive leadership, legislators, command staff, officers, investigators, analysts, technology teams, vendors, government agencies, and public safety partners. It involved expanding budgets, building new teams, prioritizing scarce resources, and meeting with chiefs and sheriffs from other departments.

Understanding the mission also meant getting out of the office. Kent regularly visited State Police districts across New Mexico, rode with officers working in rural communities, sat with dispatchers, and joined special operations like nighttime helicopter missions to see firsthand how technology and information were used in the field. Those experiences provided a perspective that cannot be gained solely from system diagrams, requirements documents, demonstrations, or meetings.

Those experiences reinforced a long-held principle: technology is not the mission. Technology matters because it helps dispatchers get the right information to officers, helps officers work more effectively and safely, helps investigators connect information to advance justice for victims and their families, helps leaders understand what is happening across their organizations, and ultimately helps public safety professionals serve and protect their communities.

Over those years, Kent built a broad network of experienced justice and public safety professionals, including law enforcement leaders, technology executives, practitioners, and specialists across a range of public safety disciplines. ReasonedPath draws on that network and a perspective built through years in the field to help agencies connect mission, people, technology, data, cybersecurity, procurement, governance, and execution. We bring together the experience and expertise needed to make well-reasoned decisions and move complex initiatives forward.

Have a public safety challenge or initiative you'd like to discuss? Contact us to start a conversation.