While TV shows and movies glamorize policingāmaking it appear as if oļ¬cers spend entire shifts chasing down bad guys and busting up crime ringsāreal oļ¬cers know thatās far from reality.
After spending 38 years policing in Massachusetts, retired Chief Richard Stanley has seen and done it all. While he may have spent part of his days arresting perpetrators and interacting with the community, he dedicated just as much time to completing routine paperwork.
āThe bane of every oļ¬cerās life is paperwork,ā he says, citing research that conļ¬rms oļ¬cers can spend about half their shifts on incident reporting and administrative work.
Stanley further explains how reporting demands are growing as mandates, like the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS), require greater detail and more speciļ¬city. The good news is agencies are applying technology to make the reporting process more eļ¬cient and less burdensome, particularly when compared to methods used before the digital age.
Stanley recalls how police oļ¬cers once typed or handwrote reports before moving to rudimentary records management systems (RMS)āwhich, in his experience, were sometimes even less eļ¬cient. āThose early systems were frustrating. We would [often] wind up losing everything when we pressed āsaveā due to user or early equipment errors,ā he says.
Today, oļ¬cers can submit reports directly from their squad carās MDC, which eliminates time-consuming trips to the station to ļ¬le reports. However, these patrol-vehicle-based reporting systems create new health and safety issues, including back problems from non-ergonomic vehicular workstations and limited situational awareness while typing into laptops.
Stanley describes this as a lose-lose situation, given how oļ¬cers already feel about reporting. āOļ¬cers donāt become oļ¬cers to spend half their shifts typing reports. They want to patrol the community and make a diļ¬erence.ā
As the volume of required paperwork grows, Stanley emphasizes the need for police managers to apply technology to make the process more eļ¬cient: āI remember how frustrating it was to miss calls for service or activity on the street because I was doing paperwork. I can only imagine that itās getting worse.ā
āPolice oļ¬cers deserve the best tools available to make them successful and keep them safe,ā he says. āAdditionally, given the ļ¬duciary responsibility to use appropriated funds responsibly and eļ¬ectively, police managers should focus on keeping oļ¬cers on the street doing the work they were hired to do.ā
Promoting Awareness and Safety
To police eļ¬ectively, itās just as important to see as to be seen. Yet spending up to half their shifts writing reports and the other half dealing with crime can limit oļ¬cersā perspectives. They become less aware of their broader surroundings and less visible in the community, and, worse, when they are seen itās often associated with an adverse event.
āWhen we overburden oļ¬cers with piles of paperwork, they become frustrated, less eļ¬ective, and burned out,ā says Stanley.
In-car reporting technology may increase oļ¬cersā omnipresenceābut it comes at a price. The āvehicular oļ¬ceā can lead to citizen complaints as well as back problems and other safety concerns for oļ¬cers. It is not uncommon for a citizen to [incorrectly] assume when they see an oļ¬cer āheads downā typing a report that they are surļ¬ng the web or, worse, dozing on the job. Additionally, āWhen oļ¬cers are typing reports, they are not paying attention to their surroundingsāmaking them more vulnerable,ā Stanley explains.
Ensuring Report Quality
The role of police oļ¬cers in the criminal justice system extends beyond their response to an initial incident. Prosecution teams rely on oļ¬cer reports to move proceedings forwardāand tight deadlines require oļ¬cers to ļ¬le timely incident reports.
āBut when duty calls, oļ¬cers have to leave the stationāand their half-ļ¬nished reportāto respond.ā
According to Stanley, āAnytime theyāre pulled away, report quality suļ¬ers.ā
Regardless of where reporting is done, interruptions can cause oļ¬cers to take a more skeletal approach to their writing. This results in reports that are ļ¬lled with basic information but lack crucial details that are imperative for a successful prosecution. More than just a way to record complaints, these reports provide essential documentation for both civil and criminal litigation.
āWe need oļ¬cers to tell a detailed story that will stand up in court,ā Stanley says. āRemember, if itās not in the report, it didnāt happen."
Using Technology to Improve Reporting
Today, Stanley is the president of RMS Associates, a consulting ļ¬rm that partners with the law enforcement community to deliver private-sector solutions to solve law enforcement challenges.
One technology he sees as beneļ¬cial is NuanceĀ® DragonĀ® Law Enforcement. This speech recognition software helps oļ¬cers prepare detailed reports three times faster than typing while keeping them more focused on patrol. With powerful dictation capabilities, Dragon Law Enforcement improves report accuracy and timeliness, speeds data entry, and allows oļ¬cers to access information such as license plates, using voice commands.
āItās important not to implement technology just for technologyās sake,ā Stanley says. āIt needs to adapt to an oļ¬cerās workļ¬owāand thatās exactly what Dragon Law Enforcement does. It turns oļ¬cers into storytellers and allows them to ļ¬ll in the details while an incident is still fresh in their minds."
According to Stanley, when police supervisors talk to an oļ¬cer on the scene, the oļ¬cer shares detailed information about the incident. But when that same supervisor reviews the written report, it often lacks that same nuanced detail.
If the oļ¬cer hurriedly typed the report, perhaps days after the incident, it is likely not to be as comprehensive as the initial verbal account.
āDragon Law Enforcement lets oļ¬cers capture a more compelling story of the scene,ā he says. āBy inputting the data directly into the system, it eliminates the need for transcription and helps avoid lag time in reporting. Plus, it keeps oļ¬cers and their attention on the street.ā
Ultimately, the real appeal of Dragon Law Enforcement is how it helps police better protect the communities they serve. āHigher visibility and more proactive policing build stronger community relations. That, along with more cruisers on the streets, oļ¬ers a powerful deterrent eļ¬ect,ā Stanley says.
While policing may never be as glamorous as the movies portray, advanced technology is turning law enforcement into a more fulļ¬lling job.
āNo matter what your line of work, you want to feel good about what you do,ā Stanley observes.
To hear more from Chief Richard Stanley about how technology, including Nuance Dragon Law Enforcement, can make oļ¬cers more eļ¬ective, register for our ā3 Ways Tech Can Improve Active Community Policingā webinar, which will be held on Tuesday, April 28, at 2 p.m. EST, at www.PoliceMag.com/NuanceWebinar.