COMPUTER AIDED FIELD REPORTING SYSTEM, CITY OF WESTMINSTER, COLORADO SYNOPSIS -------- The City of Westminster, Colorado, Police Department utilizes notebook sized portable computers as report taking tools. Individually issued Radio Shack Model 100/102 portable computers are being used by the uniformed patrol officers to write offense reports in the field. The reports are then printed out at the police station or are transmitted over the telephone lines to a host computer at the station for review and processing. SETTING ------- Westminster is a City of 75,000 people located North of Denver. Its police department consists of 102 sworn and 54 civilian personnel, with a uniformed patrol divison staffing of 82 people. SYSTEM DESCRIPTION ------------------ Patrol Officers spend a significant portion of thier time writing reports about the crimes or incidents that they investigate. These reports are completed in a number of traditional methods at various agencies across the country. The most common methods include writing reports by hand, typing the reports on a typewriter in the station, and phoning the reports to a voice recording device where they are typed later by a clerical pool. One primary goal of many progressive police managers is to speed up and make more efficient the report writing process, and eventually move to a "paperless" reporting system where a report is written and stored electronically, to be printed only when a hard copy is actually needed. Any streamlining of the report writing process makes the police officer more efficient by freeing his time from writing so that he can be redirected to more active functions. In January of 1985, the Westminster City Manager's office became aware of a pilot portable computer experiment in St. Petersburg, Florida, and alerted the Police Chief to its potential. Two Westminster officers were then dispatched to St. Petersburg to learn about their experience. After a two day visit with Sergeant Maurice McGough (the Father/Guru of police laptop applications), they returned and initiated an experiment with five portable computers and a "host" PC in the station. During the test the Florida model was modified several times to conform to Colorado reporting standards, and the host equipment was replaced with different types of equipment and software. This test phase placed a battery operated laptop computer, on which reports could be prepared, in the hands of the patrol officer in the field. Participants were hand selected to include typist, non-typist, good report writer, bad report writer, and desk officer. Reports were generated on the computers in the field and then printed at the station, or transmitted to the supervisor at the station via telephone modem. At the supervisor review level, the printed reports were folded into the existing paper flow. An evaluation of the six month test period revealed numerous positive advantages to the use of the computers and supported their use as a productive first step towards a paperless system. The test revealed a variable increase in report writing speed (depending on typing skills), more complete reports resulting from the interactive report writing program, a drastic increase in legibility from handwritten reports, and more efficently written reports due to the officers' ability to easily edit, correct or modify the reports in the computer. After the trial period, a decision was made to implement "CAFRS" (Computer Aided Field Reporting System)(the Chief wouldn't go for "CARP", Computer Assisted Reporting Program) and outfit the entire patrol force with portable computers over a period of several years. By April of 1987, fifty-two laptops, one PC host, and two printers were in service. Having seen the success of the pilot project and the ease with which reports were being generated, the majority of the patrol officers accepted the computer concept enthusiastically, and those without computers are constantly reminding the coordinator that they wish to be next on the list for one. Each officer is currently issued a Radio Shack Model 100/102 computer with 32K of RAM, a padded carrying case, and modem cables. Cost per officer is about $500.00. An 8K report writing program written in Basic resides in RAM for the officer to actually write the report with. Extra memory in the form of third party supplied bank memory enhancements are added to the desk officers' computers to support the greater number of reports they write during a shift. The host computer is an IBM PC XT compatible Tandy 1200 HD running "Telecommuter Plus" software. This host and its software receives and stores incoming reports automatically, and does not require and "operator" until the supervisor is ready to review and print the reports that have been received via the phone. Training of the officers in the use of the portables and the program has been relatively inexpensive and simple. Each officer received eight hours of classroom instruction and was allowed to practice for a week between calls before he started taking reports on the computer. Within two months, even the hunt and peck typists were typing faster than they had hand printed their reports. Equipment repair has been minimal, with a few equipment breakdowns mostly attributable to accidental harsh handling. Support costs are primarily paper and batteries. After the initial month or so of constant practice and attention, the average battery usage is three four-packs of AA batteries per officer per month. There is not a lot of hidden cost or overhead for administration of the program. Coordination of the effort is assigned as an additional duty of an existing Watch Commander, and software modification support is provided by the city data processing division. THE FUTURE ---------- While the use of this generation of laptop computer has enhanced the report writing function at Westminster, the future holds great promise for improving the process and moving even closer to a paperless system. Movement ahead, however, depends not only on technological advancement, but on the availability of the technology at affordable costs to financially strapped municipal governments. While microelectronics technology is rapidly advancing, it does not appear to have yet reached the point where a paperless police report system could be implemented cost effectively. (Cost effectiveness is, of course, relative to the financial resourses of, and the priorities of, the individual city.) Westminster will continue to experiment with enhanced technology as it's cost becomes manageable and it's physical size becomes convienient; continue to exchange information with other interested agencies; and implement the new technology when it appears beneficial. FOR MORE INFORMATION -------------------- If you have questions or want more detailed information, or are interested in providing suggestions or information, contact Lieutenant Bill Martin, Westminster Police Department, 8800 N. Sheridan Blvd., Westminster, Co. 80030, Tel. (303) 429-1546 X 347; or shoot me an EasyPlex at 73226,2751. Also see Maurice McGough's and Leonard Leedy's POLICE.100 and POLICE.DOC in the M100SIG DL4; and related articles in the April, 1986, "PICO" and the March, 1985, "PORTABLE 100/200." Bill Martin