Best of Both Worlds: Interfacing an RMS and a Dedicated Evidence System

“MPD has the best of both worlds; this upgrade will reduce the repetitive work done by the officers and gives the evidence personnel the power of a full evidence management system.” Rhonda Buma, Evidence Supervisor for the Medford Police Department

Customer

Medford Police Department, Medford, OR

Challenge

It started pretty typically. Rhonda Buma, the Evidence Supervisor in the Medford Police Department (MPD) Property Room, wanted to upgrade her version of Evidence TraQ to take advantage of QueTel’s (now a part of Omnigo Software) enhancements. The Evidence TraQ had built in ad hoc queries and a management statistics report, as well as several other TraQ enhancements that would eliminate paper and save officers time.

Solution

The MPD Evidence Division was able to use the new technology to email officers and ask them to correct improper submissions and track and follow up with non-responders electronically.

The specialized evidence system also removes the biggest hurdle to disposition—the paperwork involved in getting approval from officers to purge unneeded evidence—simplifying the purging process, making it fully electronic and freeing up shelf space without any paperwork.

In addition, Evidence TraQ alerts users when items are overdue from the court and permits them to follow up with the delinquent officer via email -- eliminating paper and saving time.

Because the new system is a 100% browser application, no software has to be installed or supported on any user’s PC.

Results

This solution saves officers time and provides the property room with the tools necessary to manage and control evidence. Officers use the RMS to describe incidents and persons involved, as well as stolen, recovered, found, and narcotics items, which are required for Federal and Oregon state reporting.

The system also makes evidence management virtually paperless, eliminates duplication, saves officers and property room personnel time, and provides the Evidence Supervisor the tools needed to maintain evidence operations.

One veteran officer said of Evidence TraQ, “In 25 years with the department, this is the most sensible computer program we’ve deployed.”