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“It Works the Way It Always Should Have” | A Conversation with Lt. RB Todd on Everyday Impact, Regional Insights, and Smarter Searches with ForceMetrics
Lieutenant RB Todd has spent over two decades in law enforcement, serving in roles spanning patrol, records, recruitment, and real-time crime operations. A longtime advocate for smarter, more integrated policing tools, Lt. Todd has been one of ForceMetrics’ most vocal champions. In a 2023 WFMY News 2 segment, he called ForceMetrics “by far one of the greatest evolutions that a police department will have ever taken technologically to better service their residents.”
Since that interview, the platform has only become more embedded in Greensboro PD’s daily work. In this Q&A, Lt. Todd shares real examples of how the Velocity™ platform supports every corner of the department, from hiring to patrol, from community response to regional data sharing.
Q: When did your department first start using ForceMetrics, and how did adoption begin?
Lt. Todd: I think we were one of the first agencies to stand it up, around 2021 or 2022. What surprised me was how quickly it became indispensable. At first, we just thought it would help us search police reports. Our RMS isn’t really built for that. It’s a digital filing cabinet, not an investigative tool. But ForceMetrics changed everything. Suddenly, you could identify patterns, pull histories on repeat callers, or understand what’s going on before you even get to the scene. It turned a basic search tool into a powerful decision-making engine.
Q: How do you use ForceMetrics in real-world situations—both routine and unexpected?
Lt. Todd: The beauty of ForceMetrics is that it shows you the full context. I’ve used it for everything from mental health crises to sexual assault cases to noise complaints. A guy might call about barking dogs, and I can instantly pull up every time he’s contacted us, what ACO already did, and what steps are pending. That changes how I handle the conversation—it gives me confidence, and it saves time.
It’s also transformed how we handle incoming crises. With ForceMetrics, I can see someone’s history within minutes—if they’re a veteran, what their triggers are, whether they trust uniformed officers. That level of awareness wasn’t possible before.
Q: Can you share a specific story where ForceMetrics made a big impact?
Lt. Todd: The first week I used it, a veteran homicide detective was frustrated trying to find an associate tied to a suspect. He’d spent a full week reading every case file manually. I told him, “Let’s try ForceMetrics.” He gave me a loose nickname and in seconds—seconds—we found the person. All the prior involvement, vehicle, location, everything matched. He was mad… because he’d just wasted a week doing what ForceMetrics did in under a minute. It didn’t replace his work, it amplified it and got him further, faster.
Q: You’ve described ForceMetrics as “Google easy.” What does that mean in practice?
Lt. Todd: It means anyone can use it. We’ve got tech-savvy rookies and more senior records personnel, and both groups use ForceMetrics confidently. There’s just one search bar. Type what you know, and it does the rest. I’ve trained our front-desk staff, our watch operations team, even background investigators to use it. And they love it because it works. Whether it’s finding an arrest record, locating a party involved in an incident, or tracking repeat calls to the same apartment. It’s all instant.
Q: Has the platform changed how your team works internally or collaborates with other departments?
Lt. Todd: Definitely. We used to rely on our crime analysts for everything, and while they’re incredible, it would take hours to build a Crystal Report. Now I can do that myself with ForceMetrics: look at heat maps, spot trends, and bring answers to Monday morning meetings. That saves them time and gives us faster insight.
We’ve also started seeing data from nearby agencies like Winston-Salem. That matters, because crime doesn’t stop at jurisdiction lines. Having that visibility across regions—without waiting for someone else to search—is a huge shift.
Q: How has ForceMetrics supported recruiting or internal investigations?
Lt. Todd: When I was in recruiting and background checks, we added ForceMetrics to our toolkit. Candidates might say they’ve never used drugs, but a quick search shows they were at a house party where narcotics were involved. That context is critical. We’ve even seen ForceMetrics help us identify victim involvement or repeat interactions that didn’t show up in other systems.
Q: How has ForceMetrics helped save time in your work?
Lt. Todd: You don’t waste hours chasing incomplete or incorrect info. Even if a name is misspelled or entered slightly wrong, the system still surfaces what you’re looking for. That kind of accuracy means our searches actually lead somewhere—and we don’t lose valuable time doubling back.
Q: What would you say to another agency considering ForceMetrics?
Lt. Todd: I’d say this: ForceMetrics lets every officer tap into the full knowledge of their department. It’s like having every note, every call, every pattern available in seconds. You know who you’re dealing with, even if you’ve never met them.
It’s built the way police tools always should’ve worked. And it’s one of the few products I’ve seen that actually makes our job easier without cutting corners. You can’t say that about most tech in this field.
See ForceMetrics in action — head to ForceMetrics.com/Contact to connect with our team.