Enhancing Community Safety by Validating Australian Phone Numbers

At a Glance

A state’s police force needed software that could verify phone numbers and email addresses in real-time.

Police Officer, Law Enforcement and Validating Australian Addresses

This law enforcement agency is comprised of highly trained professionals who work tirelessly to maintain public safety, prevent crime and uphold the rule of law. Through rigorous training, advanced technology and community engagement they strive to protect residents and visitors while fostering a secure environment.

The Challenge

One of the State’s Police Services Mobile Capacity Centre needed help validating and verifying mobile numbers. They were working on a service that could send infringement notices to the public. This was a challenge because the numbers and email addresses submitted by people were in various and/or incorrect formats.

This client started using our services in 2017. At this point, they were wrapping up the dissolution of a government agency and working on transferring ownership of Kleber to the main agency.

Kleber was being used to help with law enforcement efforts. Officers had the option of issuing infringements through the traditional post or electronic means. Unfortunately, they were not meeting the target percentage for electronic use. If usage improved, they were hoping to roll out the program.

The Process

Before the end of 2017, they wanted to enhance their app and create a display where verified mobile numbers would also indicate the carrier. We helped them create this solution and let them know that if they would be interested in discovering a number’s carrier in real time, we could also help them develop that service.

Around mid-2018, we reconnected to discuss the rates of increased rollout. They gave us their usage volumes for email and phone. We ran the numbers and gave them three different recommendations according to their low, mid-range and high usage estimates.

In 2021, we discussed their experiences with Kleber. By this time they had about 7,000 devices in use, with the government agreeing to roll it out to 5,000 additional devices over the next three years.

Kleber’s role was to help officers validate the email or phone number provided by civilians in real-time. The person receiving the infringement notice can choose to get it electronically or through the post.

Of all the infringements sent out in the past year, 60 percent were sent electronically and the remaining 40 percent were sent via post.

At this point, our contact said that Kleber had “lived up to their expectations”, and that he “never gets any complaints about issues with it”. This was a new venture and they were unsure about how much it would be used but they did note that more than half of the infringements were sent this way.

We discussed ways to improve the service and found that they wanted a way to see credit balance, as the metrics they had when logging in to see reports were “a bit tricky” and the gauges needed improvement.

The Impact

Serving Legal Documents Efficiently

Officers are responsible for serving legal documents and notices. Using Kleber helped them ensure that these documents are delivered to the correct person and the correct address, maintaining the integrity of the legal process while serving the information needed in real-time.

Data Management, Community Policing, and Public Safety

Apart from validating and verifying addresses, Kleber helped maintain the accuracy and consistency of sensitive information inside the police database. Our software helped prevent errors, duplicates and verify incomplete information. As a result, this improved the quality and reliability of the data used for various purposes in the pursuit of justice and maintenance of order.