The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) is tasked with ensuring the safety and security of the Lone Star State’s nearly 30 million residents across a vast 694,000 square kilometers. The department addresses a wide range of threats, including transnational gangs, terrorism, violent crime, traffic hazards, cyberattacks and natural disasters.
It also manages a variety of important licensing and regulatory functions, including the issuance of driver licenses, handgun carry permits and more. Additionally, the DPS operates essential law enforcement information systems to support agencies in maintaining law and order across the state.
“I always emphasize to my team that we’re on a mission to protect and serve Texas.”
The Information Technology team at the DPS is tasked with providing optimal support for this diverse and dynamic landscape of responsibility of essential functions. There’s a very different engine driving the people behind this critical work and Chief of Information Technology, Jessica Ballew, says it’s more than a job – it’s a mission.
“I always emphasize to my team that we’re on a mission to protect and serve Texas, and that it can’t be done without the work they’re doing,” she tells The CEO Magazine.
“You have to strive for excellence no matter how mundane your task may seem, because looking at the bigger picture, it’s ultimately going to have an impact on public safety and you can’t settle for anything less.”
Making a difference
Ballew says that people join the DPS to make a difference. It’s an attractive prospect and one that keeps people around long enough to make careers out of jobs.
“Most people want to feel like they’re doing something for the greater good,” she reflects. “They want to know that what they do matters, that they can take pride in it. And they should be taking pride. It’s so important that you’ve got to be proud of it.”
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It’s that culture of excellence that has made the iconic Texas Rangers so effective in the state’s law enforcement hierarchy and that has helped the DPS build a team that does make a difference – Ballew chief among them.
“I’ve been here for 27 years. I started when I was at school as a clerk in our driver’s license division,” she reveals.
Spurred on by the sense she was working toward a greater good, Ballew stayed with department, eventually being tapped to manage some technology projects and program improvements before serving as the Chief of Administration, Infrastructure Operations and the Innovation & Data Office.
Ballew explains she became the CIO when the Director made the decision to merge the Innovation & Data Office – then led by Ballew – with the Information Technology Division.
“He wanted to create an organization and environment to posture the agency to be more innovative and take full advantage of technological capabilities to support law enforcement operations,” she explains.
Mission to protect and serve
Ballew’s wide trajectory through the department has given her an innate understanding of the customer’s perspective.
“I’ve also been the customer, so I know their needs and expectations,” she points out. “And I know what it takes to make our operations run more efficiently. There are downstream implications for everything we do.”
With so many moving parts to keep running smoothly, Ballew says taking advantage of the capabilities in the market is crucial.
“We must make sure our people (officers and first responders) have the information they need when they need it, they know where everybody’s at and they can see all the dots on the map to get through a critical event safely and successfully. Interoperability is key,” she says.
“What we do really makes a difference. To me, that’s the most important thing.”
Digitizing and automating department services has helped immeasurably and is something the department continues to prioritize.
“Even if you’re renewing your license, you can do so much ahead of time online before you come into the office,” she explains. “The more we can do like that, the more successful we are because we’ve made it easier for people to get what they need.”
The mission to protect and serve Texas is, in Ballew’s view, unbeatable.
“There’s this sense of accomplishment knowing you’re helping your family, friends, neighbors, even strangers who happen to be passing through the state. I don’t think you can feel as good about anything as you can about that.”
In a role that provides support for tasks of myriad priorities, Ballew says it’s easy to keep things in perspective.
“What we do really makes a difference. To me, that’s the most important thing,” she says.
