From Training Platform to Complete Police Force Management: Bloomington PD’s BMS Journey
Posted
January 21, 2026
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Bloomington PD came for training compliance and stayed for canine tracking, drone reporting, vehicle pursuits, and 15+ custom solutions.
When Commander Eric Kittelson inherited the Benchmark Analytics project at Bloomington Police Department in January 2024, he knew exactly why his agency had chosen BMS: the training management system.
“I actually recalled about two years ago when they pitched this, the number one main reason that we switched to benchmark analytics was the training management system,” Kittelson explains.
Like many agencies in Minnesota, Bloomington faced rigorous POST Board audits requiring proof that every officer completed mandated training and that the training met state standards.
“Our training sergeant is able to create those trainings in the training management system, assign them to all the officers, and then also has the audit trail of who’s completed it.”
The training management capability was supposed to replace their manual Excel spreadsheet tracking system. It would be a significant upgrade. A focused solution. Mission accomplished. Except that’s not where the story ended.
“Wait a Minute, I Have an Idea”
Fast forward to today, and Bloomington PD is using BMS for far more than training compliance. They’ve created 15-17 different custom forms, eliminated multiple software subscriptions, and discovered applications they “didn’t anticipate when we migrated to Benchmark.”
What sparked this expansion beyond the original training focus? In Kittelson’s words, it was a series of conversations that began with “wait a minute, I have an idea.”
- Response to Aggression (Use of Force)
- Vehicle Pursuit Report
- UAV / Drone Report
- Peer Support Tracking Report
- Training Request Report
- Discipline Report
- IA Inquiries
- Field Training Reports
- Daily Observation Reports
- End of Phase Reports
- Remedial Training Reports
- Award Recognition Reports
- Community Roster
- Performance Tracker
- Training Management
Four Unexpected Applications
1) The Canine Unit: Turning a Budget Problem into a Solution
The first breakthrough came through a casual conversation about budget constraints. “The sergeant that was in charge of the canine program had some software that they were using that was really minimal in expense. I think it was about $800 a year. And there was just gonna be this huge increase,” Kittelson recalls. The price was jumping to approximately $3,500 annually, an increase their budget couldn’t absorb. “And they didn’t even come to me. I just, in conversation, we were talking about, and I said, well, what do these forms look like?”
Within days, Bloomington had built two custom forms in BMS: canine training logs and canine usage logs, and eliminated the need for separate software entirely. But the real magic came in the details: “We actually put the dog’s names in there… and we actually put the drone, the name of the drone or model or whatever identifier we have for that particular drone.” These personal touches created immediate buy-in from handlers, who could now track environmental conditions and get analytics to improve training outcomes—all while eliminating a specialized software subscription.
2) The Drone Program: From Inquiry to Innovation
The second discovery came from an unexpected source: a public inquiry. A resident claimed the department was using drones to follow her. When Kittelson investigated, the drone sergeant showed him a paper log proving no flight occurred that day.
“While I was looking at this piece of paper with him, I said, tell me more about this.” The sergeant explained they maintained paper logs and then manually compiled an annual report to the state for audit purposes. “I said, okay, I have an idea.”
Working with their Benchmark implementation lead, they created a UAV/drone tracking log that embedded Minnesota state statutes directly into the form. “When the drone team looks at reason for flight, they can click not just in the dropdown to see, okay, I’m using this for recon for a search warrant. They can actually click on and see the statute that Chelsea summarized or paraphrased of saying okay, am I within these boundaries of usage.” The result? Instant compliance verification, elimination of paper logs, and automatic state reporting—all from what started as investigating a single inquiry.
3) The Accountant’s Four-Hour Monthly Gift
Sometimes the most significant wins come from the most unexpected places.
“Our accountant had been creating an Excel spreadsheet and he was pulling just certain information out of the training requests,” Kittelson explains. This process consumed four to six hours at the end of every month. “And I said, okay, hold on now. I said, I’m gonna check the admin tab and look at the data exports. There’s some autogenerated reports that just take a few minutes to load. Let me send you that and see if that has what you need in it.”
It had everything he needed and more. “And so right there, that saved him over half a day of work every month. And so now I just… run that report for him, which takes about two minutes and saves him about four to six hours’ worth of work.”
4) Vehicle Pursuits: Three Processes Become One
Perhaps the most comprehensive example came with vehicle pursuit documentation—a high-stakes area with significant compliance requirements. “Officers were creating an internal form. The sergeant was then doing a supervisory review, which is required for pursuits in Minnesota, and then our lead record specialist was then compiling that data and doing the report at the end of each month—so we have 30 days to report to the state all of our vehicle pursuits. And so that was three separate forms, three separate processes, three separate divisions.”
Bloomington consolidated all three into a single form with an automated workflow. “We got everyone in the same room and said, okay, we are required to do certain reporting. We’re required to review these pursuits and then we’re required to report this. So how can we combine all these into one?”
For a department that continues to pursue, while many agencies have stopped, the data becomes critical for policy justification. “We had 65 vehicle pursuits last year [2024]. We actually canceled 40 of them. The 25 that we continued, we arrested the suspect.”
From Compliance Tool to Strategic Asset
What began as a training management solution has become something far more comprehensive. The pattern across Bloomington’s story is clear: BMS didn’t just solve its original problem; it changed how they approach operational challenges.
Time savings compound across the organization. Manual processes become automatic. Separate software subscriptions become unnecessary. And perhaps most importantly, administrative work stops keeping supervisors from their actual mission. “It gets them out of the office more because there’s less administrative paperwork to do,” Kittelson explains.
When leadership needs data, for city council meetings, budget discussions, or policy decisions, it’s immediately available. “We can run a data export or a query and just immediately provide him with valuable data… You have that data supporting: this is what we’re doing, this is how we’re doing it, and these are the results.”
What Could BMS Solve for Your Agency?
The Bloomington Police Department approached Benchmark Analytics with one need: training management for POST Board compliance. By staying open to possibilities, they discovered a platform that eliminated multiple software subscriptions, saved hundreds of hours annually, and transformed how leadership makes decisions. Months after going live, they’re still finding new applications.
“Having had a lot of experience in a lot of different areas kind of helps me to think big picture as far as just how far can we take our experience with Benchmark,” Kittelson reflects. “And so we keep pushing those limits and coming up with new forms to create.”
The question isn’t whether BMS can handle training management, early intervention, or use of force tracking. It does those things exceptionally well. The real question is: What else could it solve for your agency that you haven’t even thought to ask about yet?
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