BonnerSprings.com

Edwardsville Police Department’s new chief started in October, and he’s got the department on the track to the 21st century.

Under Chief Mark Mathies, the department has been entering its arrest and accident data into a new, computerized records management system that should help the department to identify suspects who have been previously arrested and to more efficiently target patrols in districts where they’re needed the most.

The system will replace the old one that consisted of handwritten, paper copies.

Though some of the data was converted to spreadsheets, Mathies said the data entered heretofore was inconsistent and not standardized.

Using a part-time staffer, all the records from 2008 have been entered into the new records management system, and the entering of data for 2007 has begun. Mathies estimates there will be about 1,500 records for each year.

“It helps us analyze where our activities are occurring,” Mathies said. “We file everything by district.”

Also, Mathies said, with the new system “we know what time they’re occurring — we know what times are the busier months. We can also query up the names of people who may have been involved in burglaries in the past, if (we) have their names in the system.”

The system is a software package, but in order to best take advantage of it the department updated its servers and computers when other city departments did, Mathies said.

The hardware cost between $7,000 and $10,000, and the department got a deal on the records management system at $16,000, including two years of service and on-site training.

The training is an ongoing process, Mathies said, because the best way for officers to learn the system is through hands-on use, meaning the inputting of actual records.

The system already is making Edwardsville police officers’ jobs easier, said Detective Guy Redinger.

That’s because officers working on weekends couldn’t access the records of arrests and other incidents, as the hard-copy documents were kept in secure storage overseen by the court and police clerk.

“It’s been really good, really positive,” said Redinger. “We’ve been able to utilize it more than we have in the past (with) the other system.”

Also, he said, “We have access to more of the reports quicker.”

The system has been “pretty simple” for officers training on it, Redinger said.

With the new system officers give their handwritten reports to the data-entry clerk to enter. After all the other information is entered, the officer types in his narrative of the incident.

The officers like the new records system, Redinger said, because they “have access to complete reports when they review reports of what happened when they were gone, and they can provide additional information,” for instance, when they find the name of a suspect they had recent dealings with, they can make such a note in another officer’s report.

As a detective, Redinger said his job with the new system is “getting to be kind of easier. The more information I can get from the officers, it really does help out getting that information in a timely manner.”

Additionally, Redinger said, “I have hopes that will make it easier spotting patterns” in crimes committed in Edwardsville.

Besides crime reports, other activities of the department have been updated and made easier with the new software and hardware, Mathies said, including accounts payable, animal control and animal licensing.

“It’s fairly robust and fairly comprehensive,” Mathies said.

Comments

BonnerSprings.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post.
Read our full policy. Also, read about banned accounts and harassing comments.

1. 4 April 2008 at 5:11 p.m.

   Suggest removal

   Permalink

   STANTONRAYMOND (Anonymous) says…

   i am a new neighbor here in bonner…….was glad to register with the chieftain.
   
   thank you!

Post a comment

BonnerSprings.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post.
Read our full policy. Also, read about banned accounts and harassing comments.

Requires free BonnerSprings.com registration.