Case Study - Humberside Police
Humberside Police Give Evidence for Cave Tab08/01/2007 09:00
All Police Forces throughout the United Kingdom are going through a transition relating to how we manage our information. Legislative and ACPO driven changes are aimed at improving police information management, which in turn demands accountability of all police records. There is now a national requirement to ensure a functional records management process is developed and implemented - within set timescales.
Within the Humberside Police Force we are evolving our Central 'Registry' section to become the force Records Management section.
Forces may vary from a central storage scenario like ours where we are the custodian of 703,210 records. It is essential that we can find and retrieve any record, for reference, to produce copies and for a myriad of different reasons. I believe that any registry is measured by their customers by the ability to find a record - FileTrail is the perfect platform to support this process. The use of barcodes allows, with the right resources to support it, an ideal records management tool.
Background
In 2000, due to the Y2K implications, it was necessary for a number of reasons to replace the existing DOS based software used for the management of audio/visual recordings. We had at that time some issues with the existing system and I felt it was time to look at the developing technology. At the same time the force was going through an estates review and it was identified that the storage of major crime cases and other crime records for many reasons needed to be stored out of Division, releasing much needed operational accommodation. The idea to develop a central store of records was born.
All we needed was an efficient software package to manage it!
After much investigation, I contacted Cave Tab who was using the barcode software to 'track', primarily, medical records. It was clear that File Tracker had great potential in supporting our administrative role as custodian of the force media recordings whilst in turn allowing us to develop the force post court crime file library.
Over the following five years the system was put into service and developed. Cave Tab was keen to develop this area of the market and supported us fully and comprehensively.
As the force IT infrastructure changed with the times, we had to follow suit. this meant we had to move to a web-based product and as our previous work with Cave Tab had been so successful it was decided that we would continue to work with them.
In 2005, work began developing their new web-based product, FileTrail, as a replacement for it's successful predecessor, File Tracker. As you can imagine, the conversion of an existing database of approximately 500,000 records covering almost ten different record groups in to the new software was a real challenge.
Over the next 18 months we worked very closely with Cave Tab, with the usual highs and lows, but nothing that wasn't overcome. The Cave Tab staff were knowledgeable, innovative and fully supportive.
Data
The Humberside Police Force Registry currently holds;
a) 635,992 evidential audio interview tapes
b) 47,972 evidential visual records
i) 2,184 Custody Suite CCTV recordings
ii) 32,298 Vulnerable Victim recordings
iii) 9,143 Helicopter Support Section recordings
iv) 864 Communication Centre recordings
v) 546 Special Operations Unit recordings
vi) 1,021 Accident Investigation recordings
vii) 1,286 Traffic recordings
We are also due to take responsibility, within the next 3 months for the Roads Policing records.
c) 19,246 post court files relating to Major Crime, Operations and all force-wide Crown Court files
Present
During the conversion, and for some months after, FileTrail needed much work to get it to our required standard but the Cave Tab team were always there on demand either physically on-site or on the telephone. We needed to grow into it - and we did!
We have been running with FileTrail for 12 to 18 months and since it's upgrade it has proven to do at least the same as File Tracker with greater potential for further development - with a number of key areas meeting the needs of the Manual of Police Information.
It is user friendly and over time my staff have gained more confidence in the system allowing them to continually develop it's uses.
We are almost 100% successful in retrieving records and the problems that do occur are ususally down to Human error.
Future
The software upgrade has been a challenge to me and my staff, however with much effort it has proven to be a worthwhile exercise - with work continuing.
There are areas we have not fully utilised within FileTrail yet, such as report writing which can be developed into an excellent management tool for the production of statistics.
We are also in the process of linking a form scanning solution (Eyes and Hands) from Readsoft, which will allow us to scan forms in, automatically generate a completed input screen and reduce dramatically the need for typing and at the same time improve accuracy. This is about three months away from functionality.
I could see other applications of this software - although we have not gone down this route - for example, property management.
There is also potential in opening this web-based software package up to other users within the force; for example, individual officers having access to the element of the database where their (and only their) recording data is held.
I am optimistic that our use of this package can only improve over the coming years and confident that it has the flexibility to meet the needs of the Manual of Police Information.
Conclusion
I challenge you to find a company who offer a quality product, fit for purpose, which offers best value for customers, giving peace of mind to you as a record manager and gives outstanding professional support.
I have - Cave Tab Ltd
A J Dunks
Force Registrar
Humberside Police
News category: About Cave Tab, Physical Records Management, Specialist Sectors
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