Whither electronic police reports?
The NOPD said in 2007 that electronic police reports were just months away from being implemented, yet in the MTV Real World drama that recently unfolded is proof positive that the old-fashioned handwritten police reports are still being used.
Currently, handwritten police reports take hours out of each patrol officers shift. Once handwritten police reports are written, the information has to be input into an antiquated mainframe database by data entry clerks, a process that can take weeks. Meanwhile, paper copies are archived in an antiquated imaging system, and are distributed to various bureaus, districts, and other criminal justice entities. It’s a process that’s exhaustive of labor resources and time, and it consumes reams of paper. In the future, police officers should still be thorough when writing electronic police reports, but the process should be made easier by virtue of the fact that narratives, in particular, can be more easily changed in an electronic form without having to rewrite an entire report. Additionally, of course, once electronic police reports are uploaded to a database, those reports can be immediately viewed by any authorized entity without printing them, and the information can be easily searched to identify patterns.
The ability of the police department to quickly and easily process crime information is an essential prerequisite for criminal investigations and the formulation of tactical responses from pattern analysis, for speedy prosecutions, and for the public to be informed of emerging crime threats. Handwritten police reports delay the processing of vital information locked up ink and paper.
Leadership from the next police chief is vital, not just to produce a contract that delivers a usable police report, but to cooperate with other elements of the criminal justice community including regional agencies, and non-profits such as the Police and Justice Foundation which can provide expertise and resources, to produce an electronic police report solution and internal data management processes that serve broad goals.
