Police Chief Brian Kelly said after Tuesday night's city council meeting, the almost $399,320 for the new system will be money well-spent. He said the current system is outdated.
"We're well over 10 to 15 years old," said Kelly. "Right now, the current Records Management System is not able to be used to capacity due to the fact that they've been bought out by another company. It's basically no better than a filing cabinet."
The new system will allow officers to enter information from a crime scene or the site of a traffic accident, making for more efficient transfer of information.
"The officers will be able to do incident and crash reports in the field, citations in the field...there are mobile data computers in the cars that can wirelessly transfer those back to the main frame here at the police department," said Kelly.
In addition, information can be relayed more quickly to court officials, making for increased efficiency in the department.
Kelly said he also anticipates the new system will enhance the department's service to Gainesville citizens.
"It will allow the citizens to come into the system and if they're involved in a criminal incident and need a copy of a report, they can download the initial response copy of it - crash report, same way," said Kelly.
He said also the system will allow the department to quickly create reports on crime statistics, where the current system requires officers to compile the data by hand.
Kelly said the project is one he initiated when he took office more than three years ago. He acknowledged once the system is in place, officers will need to be trained, so it will be several months before the system is operational.
Gainesville City Council voted unanimously to award a contract to SunGard Public Sector, Inc. for the new system. Five qualified contractors supplied bids to Council in April 2013.
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http://accesswdun.com/article/2014/1/269668