How Porterville PD Transformed Digital Investigations with Flock Nova OSINT

When the Porterville Police Department brought its first-ever crime analyst on board in 2022, it was clear the role would be significant. Still, the agency couldn’t have predicted just how quickly it would reshape its investigative workflow. In just two years, Crime Analyst Melinda Rios built a modern, efficient analysis program from scratch, powered by the Flock Nova open-source intelligence (OSINT) platform. Today, Nova is helping Porterville PD cut investigation times, reduce detective backlogs, and focus resources on the cases that matter most.

A Small City Facing Big Investigative Challenges

Located in the southernmost part of Tulare County, Porterville is the region’s largest incorporated city without a major highway running through it. This geographic barrier leaves its police department operating almost independently of surrounding jurisdictions. The city has also experienced shifting public safety challenges in recent years. Quality-of-life crimes have risen, a relocated county jail introduced a larger transient population, and severe flooding in 2023 pushed unhoused residents into the city center. Even as violent crime declined, calls for service climbed and stretched an already thin department.

Against this backdrop, Rios stepped into a newly created crime analyst role. She quickly discovered that without the right tools, detectives were spending an enormous amount of time manually searching online sources and legacy databases for digital identifiers tied to Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) tips. A unique issue in the city’s internet infrastructure created investigative dead ends. Because Spectrum’s internet office is located in Porterville, cyber tips from across the region often appeared to originate inside city limits, even when they didn’t. It could take up to two days just to confirm whether a tip was legitimate and belonged to Porterville. Porterville PD was losing hours determining whether cases were actually theirs to handle.

Turning Hours of Detective Work Into Minutes

Introducing Flock Nova OSINT was a turning point. Rios integrated Nova into the investigative workflow to verify IP addresses, research digital identifiers, and cross-check potential suspects tied to ICAC cases. She immediately saw the difference.

“I love it. Nova is intuitive, easy to learn, and gives me what I need fast,” she said.

Even without full integration into Porterville PD’s internal systems, which is a future goal, Nova’s out-of-box OSINT capabilities quickly became indispensable. Rios could confirm within minutes whether a tip fell within local jurisdiction, and when it didn’t, she could efficiently route it to the correct agency, helping surrounding agencies as well.

This shift didn’t just save time. It strengthened the department’s brand-new crime analysis program's credibility, delivering measurable wins almost immediately.

Results That Strengthened the Entire Department

The impact of Nova on Porterville PD’s investigations was both immediate and dramatic:

Investigative turnaround dropped from two days to 20–30 minutes.

By automating and centralizing OSINT research, Nova freed detectives to focus on casework rather than time-consuming digital verification.

Nearly all ICAC tips were correctly identified as non-Porterville cases.

Nova helped confirm that less than 10% of incoming tips actually belonged to the city, meaning detectives had previously spent most of their time on cases outside their local jurisdiction. With Nova, every recent tip has been accurately routed.

Officer safety improved during tactical operations.

Nova enabled Portersville PD to quickly identify individuals associated with registered firearms before tactical operations, improving the team’s situational awareness.

The new crime analysis unit gained trust and visibility.

Clear, quantifiable wins, including returned detective hours, closed cases, and streamlined workflows, helped demonstrate the immediate value of data-driven analysis.

“Every time I can rule out a false lead, that’s two days my detectives get back,” Rios said. “They can focus on real cases here in Porterville.”

Building Toward a More Connected Future

Looking ahead, Rios is working toward full Nova integration across the department, strengthening the connection between OSINT data and internal investigative systems. She’ll also be sharing Porterville’s success on a larger stage as she prepares to serve as President of the California Crime Analysis Association.

As FlockOS and Amazon Ring partner together, Porterville PD is poised to bring the same speed and precision to patrol-level operations that it has already brought to investigative work.

You can read more about the Flock and Ring partnership here.