The trend in public safety information and records management systems has moved from simply automating record keeping procedures to implementing dynamic, relational databases for records and department information management. These new systems improve agency operating conditions, enhance efficiencies and encourage vital information sharing with other justice agencies at all levels of government. They also allow agencies to use the information for more advanced crime analysis and management. For those law enforcement agencies planning to automate their manual record keeping systems, and for those agencies that have already automated but are planning to upgrade, this is an excellent opportunity to restructure current operating processes to make them more effective and to use the available technologies to their fullest potential. Automating records management systems results in benefits such as reducing data entry and error rates, increasing efficiency and saving time and money.
Automation is also the first step toward fully-integrated justice information systems.
Redesigning systems now means agencies must take these initiatives into consideration, as well as future needs of the department to share information and realize significant benefits. Articles, Newsletters and Documents Automatic ID News . Magazine covering automated data collection technologies, including bar code scanning, bio-card technologies and electronic data interchange. Reporting Systems in Tacoma, Washington and New Bedford, Massachusetts. Bureau of Justice Statistics.