Making A Break For It
n an effort to boost efficiency at the Burlingame, Calif., Police Department, administrators decided to migrate to a paperless system via a document imaging solution.
The older paper-based system required employees to physically search through files to obtain police reports or to add more data, according to police officer Ronda Caine, in charge of IT at the department.
In addition, results from lab tests would have to be copied and submitted to detectives, who often discarded the documents since the original case file would already have a copy, she says.
Caine says the department worked with LR Hines Consulting to set up a document imaging system based on LaserFiche technology. LR Hines’ solution incorporated the department’s existing server, CAD system, and Records system instead of having to purchase an additional database server.
The integration was achieved through a Web browser, making it “very easy to interface with LaserFiche,” says Lonnie Hines, president and CEO of the firm.
The police department purchased two scanners from the LR Hines and also added specialized options such as searching, folders, and index folders, says Hines.
Police Clerk III Colleen Villegas hopes that the department will eventually be able to write reports directly into the computer and link instantly with LaserFiche without having to use a scanner, allowing on-duty officers to easily access data.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the GovernmentVAR (05/03) Vol. 19, No. 10, P. 22; Diana, Alison.
