When Eric Clifford became Chief of the Schenectady Police Department (NY), he already knew culture—not technology—would determine whether the department could change how it approached policing this city of 67,000 residents.
“I came up through the department,” Clifford explains. “Before policing, I worked for a Fortune 500 company that was heavy into technology. When I left ‘corporate America’ and became a police officer, I immediately saw the drop-off in efficiency between the private sector and government.”
As he rose through the ranks, it wasn’t long before Clifford began to see how inefficiency showed up day to day—especially in communication.
“I really started listening to all the officers’ pain points,” he said. “One of the biggest was communication. Information flow was limited. If you were on patrol, you basically had to have the ear of a detective to get information up the chain. The detectives relied on two or three ‘go-to’ cops and everyone else felt left out.”
It created a culture of withholding information.
“Some officers felt investigators had ‘super-secret’ knowledge they weren’t sharing,” Clifford said. “So, early on I recognized there was a major communication problem.”
That wasn’t the only issue. Bulletins were emailed, printed – and misplaced.
“We’d create BOLOs or bulletins in Word documents with photos and email them out. Officers would print them, put them in their cars and they’d literally blow out the window,” he recalled. “Next thing you know, sensitive police information is showing up on social media.”
He said even emailing officers was impractical.
“Officers are driving. They see something, they have to pull over, open email, and search for the message. It was very inefficient and insecure.”
He thought there had to be a better way. Patrolfinder, a solution he conceived of and partnered with Transfinder to build, was that better way. Today, he credits Patrolfinder with playing a critical role in reducing crime in his city.
But it took a while to get here.
After years of failed or underused technology and officer skepticism and low adoption, Clifford went on a mission. Prior to being chief, he met with business leaders about what their needs were. When Clifford approached Antonio Civitella, the CEO of Transfinder Corp., a nearby logistics software company that created the nation’s award-winning solutions for school transportation, Civitella asked him what his department’s needs were. That’s when Clifford asked Civitella if Transfinder could build policing technology that could address the communication issues he’d witnessed firsthand.
“Before meeting with Tony I knew one thing: whatever we built had to work for officers. Officers shouldn’t have to work for the technology. That became the foundation.” The goal behind Patrolfinder was helping officers do their jobs.
Dealing with pushback
Resistance was inevitable. Clifford didn’t shy away from it—but he refused to blame culture.
“Any police leader that uses the culture as their roadblock is not an effective leader,” he says. “Culture shifts based on leadership.”
He expected pushback early. “When you implement it on day one, yeah, you’re going to get that pushback,” Clifford says. “By day 100, it fades. By day 1,000, it’s just how things are done.”
Instead of issuing orders, he focused on explanation and trust. “You don’t lead with orders. You lead with conversation. You ask, ‘What’s your concern?’ If it’s legitimate, you address it. If it’s not, you explain why the tool has value.”
The most common concern was tracking. Clifford addressed it head-on.
The biggest concern was: You’re using this to track us. That was fairly straightforward to address.
“If I want to track you, I already can – body cameras, radios, vehicle systems. Patrolfinder isn’t about tracking officers. It’s about understanding patrol coverage and communicating what’s important to the organization.”
Clifford then added what he was looking for in both his officers and the Patrolfinder solution. There has been a steady drumbeat to boost implementation.
“Right now, everyone in patrol only knows Patrolfinder. New officers learn it in the academy and field training,” Clifford said, noting that in the past four years the entire patrol division turned over. “New officers don’t see it as ‘new.’ It’s just how we operate.”
Increasing buy-in with officer feedback
Also helping to improve buy-in was constantly seeking officer input. Officers helped build the system themselves, he said.
“I brought in officers and supervisors who were interested in technology. We formed a think tank and let patrol officers give direct feedback … That buy-in mattered. Officers could say, ‘I helped build this.’ When they saw their ideas on the screen, they used it – and it encouraged others to use it. Adoption spreads organically from there.”
Over time, the cultural shift became visible. “There wasn’t a single ‘aha moment.’ It was incremental,” he said.
At its core, the change came from officers recognizing the investment being made in them.
“When I became chief, my priorities were partnerships, technology and training,” Clifford said. “Officers respond when you invest in them. Over time, they began to understand that professionalism wasn’t just a buzzword, it meant data, being intentional and doing the job more thoughtfully.”
“My directive was simple: hit every street in your zone at least once every 72 hours. I don’t care how you do it – just do it. And if you say you can’t remember where you’ve been, I have a solution. It’s called Patrolfinder.”
Chief Eric Clifford (Retired), Schenectady Police Department, Schenectady, NY
Clifford said in some ways he just needed to tap into an officer’s natural tendencies.
“Good officers have always used data – they just carried it in their heads,” he said. “Technology allows us to document it, analyze it and turn it into action. We’ve always used the intelligence cycle for major crimes like homicides. Patrolfinder allows us to apply that same thinking to neighborhoods and quality-of-life issues.”
It’s why he wasn’t shocked to see crime drop by as much as 49 percent in some categories.
Clifford recommends police chiefs keep an open mind when looking into Patrolfinder.
“It costs nothing to look at it. Bring your people into the conversation in a way that empowers them,” he said. “The results we’ve seen are real. Policing has to evolve because the community’s technology is outpacing ours.”
He paused and added: “Trust is built through visibility and engagement – sometimes, just driving slowly, waving, being present. That’s how we keep communities safe.”
Note: Clifford retired in early 2026. On Feb. 13, 2026 he was honored at the Siena men’s basketball game at the MVP Arena, Albany, NY. During the Patrolfinder-sponsored Police and First Responders Night, Chief Clifford received the inaugural Patrolfinder Innovation in Policing Award.
