Blue Force Tracking (BFT)

The Contract and Indigenous Policing Directorate of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has implemented the Blue Force Tracking (BFT) program. BFT employs a geo-spatial infrastructure for situational awareness in a General Duty policing environment using applications called Android Team Awareness Kit (ATAK) and Windows Team Awareness Kit (WinTAK). BFT provides both incident commanders and members on duty with a map of the GPS location of each member to enhance officer safety. Symbolically, blue typically denotes friendly forces (that is, other members of the same police force or other public safety allies), and therefore is referred to as Blue Force Tracking.

BFT has been implemented to meet a key officer safety recommendation from the MacNeil Report after the 2014 incident in Moncton, New Brunswick, resulted in the death of three RCMP officers. The MacNeil Report recommended improved sharing of encrypted information across responders and command personnel to allow for simultaneous monitoring by frontline supervisors, Critical Incident Command (CIC), Division Emergency Operations Centre (DEOC) and the National Operations Centre (NOC).

ATAK is a secure software application, which is installed on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, while WinTAK is used on a Microsoft Windows Operating System on desktop devices; both for the purpose of tracking members in the field. ATAK provides members in the field with an immediate tool to communicate and coordinate their location with their peers and supervisors in and out of their vehicles and with other Operational Communications Centre (OCC) personnel who use WinTAK from a desktop.

ATAK/WinTAK features include a moving map tool, which displays Google Maps and OpenStreetMap (OSM) as the base maps. Several different overlays including tracks of Police Dog Services or where members have previously been, various points such as landmarks, drawing tools and elevation features are included. The tool dramatically improves the situational awareness of frontline members by allowing members to see each other's physical location, decreasing response times, to improving investigational outcomes. Supervisors are better able to see member's locations in the field and provide them direction for their safety and that of the public.

The ATAK/WinTAK applications provides a secure environment for audio calling, chat/texting and photo functionality that allows members to share observations and images obtained during an incident to improve officer safety. Up to 19,000 Regular members, as well as all OCC and critical incident commanders are part of the BFT Program using ATAK/WinTAK.

BFT is used while RCMP members carry out their duties as authorized under section 18 of the RCMP Act and section 14 of the RCMP Regulations. The collection of personal information during RCMP investigations is done in accordance with Operational Case Records Personal Information Bank (PIB) - RCMP PPU 005 and the Privacy Act. The majority of information collected and used is GPS locations of the members during their shift. It is possible that in the usual course of an investigation that further descriptors of persons of interest involved in a situation will be collected and shared. This could include names, addresses, vehicle information, photos and texts from one member to another relating to a suspect or person of interest. Personal information of operational value is managed with the appropriate records management system.

Privacy risks were identified in the PIA along with mitigating measures and recommendations as follows:

  • To mitigate the risk that officers' personal location information will be collected while off-duty, the RCMP has created policies and training material to instruct members to shut down ATAK while off shift to eliminate this collection. A new reminder feature will be explored as part of a plan to further develop the software.
  • BFT does not contain the functionality to adhere to an automated retention schedule. To mitigate this issue:
    • BFT has been added to the "information in external systems drop-down" list in PROS used to notify users that information exists in an external system and must be addressed
    • additional updates to BFT policy will remind officers to manage operationally relevant information with the appropriate records management system
    • a specific retention period for the BFT database is being explored
    • business requirements will be developed for an automated purge process
    • interim information management processes and standard operating procedures will be created to clarify the manual purge process until the automated purge solution is implemented
  • It is recommended that the new functionality or an audit log review tool be built to include auditing features for the BFT Authoritative Database to determine if and when the system may be accessed inappropriately. Currently, access to the BFT Authoritative Database is limited to a small number of IT staff, and the BFT policy and training documentation directs members so they are aware of proper access and use.
  • BFT contains only limited functionality to search for information for disclosure purposes. While manual database searches can be conducted, they may not be exhaustive. An IT solution will be sought to allow for more effective and efficient functionality to fulfil disclosure requirements.
  • In order to be more transparent, this PIA summary will be published and updates to the RCMP InfoSource chapter and the operational case records personal information bank will be updated accordingly

BFT is used for situational awareness to assist in criminal investigations and to meet the RCMP's commitment to building relationships through fostering safe homes and safe communities across Canada. The RCMP mandate of preventing and investigating crime; maintaining peace and order; enforcing laws; contributing to national security; ensuring the safety of state officials and visiting dignitaries; and providing vital operational support services to other police and law enforcement agencies within Canada and abroad will be supported by implementing BFT. The RCMP is committed to safeguarding personal information that is collected and continuously reviews its policies and procedures to ensure compliance to federal legislation.

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