Managing information system in public sector

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Managing Information Systems

Database Proposal

Client: Cranford Police Department Communications Division

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Scope of Project: I have been employed by the Cranford Police Department since June of 2002 where I began as a

Communications Officer in the dispatch center, officially known as the Communications

Division. In my experiences in college, I was able to suggest a comprehensive overhaul of the

Cranford Police Department’s Scheduling Software which ultimately replaced an antiquated

paper-process with a more effective computerized system. Since the purchase of the Police

Officer Scheduling System (POSS), the Cranford Police Department has reduced time, energy

and confusion by reducing administrative hurdles and decreasing clerical mistakes. It is with

the knowledge that such transformations are possible in the Cranford Police Department that I

am prepared to replace other “traditional” systems of data management to increase efficiency

and reduce mistakes. Additionally, the implementation of a more effective data management

system herein described will reduce response times to burglary and fire alarm calls for service.

Organization: The Cranford Police Department The Cranford Police Department is a municipal law enforcement agency that serves the

Township of Cranford. In addition to patrolling the township and responding to emergencies,

the police department hosts an extensive Communications Division that is in charge of alarm or

“Digitize” board monitoring and dispatching, scheduling, manpower rosters and other

administrative functions. The “digitize” board holds approximately 1,300 different premises

with burglary and fire alarm systems in its system and acts as the “ADT” monitor for local

residences and businesses. In addition to the residences and businesses, government buildings,

including the Cranford Library, Cranford Recreation Center, Cranford Pool(s), eight (8) public

schools, ten (10) houses of worship, two (2) senior citizen housing units, two (2) nursing homes,

and the entire Union County College Cranford Campus are all monitored by this system.

During 2013, the Cranford Police Department logged over 50,000 case numbers, which

amounts to over 930 calls for service weekly or approximately 130 calls for service in a 24 hour

period. Of these calls, burglary and fire alarms coming through the alarm board account for

approximately ¼ of the calls for service. Fortunately, the majority of the time these alarms are

“false alarms”, which means that they were activated erroneously due to operation error, faulty

system upkeep, or in most fire alarm cases, due to cooking without ventilation. Still, with the

alarm signals being sent through the Digitizer Board throughout the course of the day, human

errors for handling the alarms may happen. In order to mitigate this, the Communications

Division has a paper back-up system in place that shows all alarm information and zones in case

clarification is needed prior to a dispatch. This system will be discussed in further, but first, the

Digitizer Board in question should be explained.

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The Digitizer Board is manufactured by Digitize Incorporated, which was founded in 1977. The

initial purpose of the Digitizer was to allow for fire alarm signals from street boxes (commonly

referred to as “pull stations”) to be digitally decoded. Then, a signal would be transmitted

through phone line to the Digitize Alarm Board. In essence, the alarm “call” is the phone

number, and the Digitize Board reads the “caller ID”, indicating which alarm is “calling”. This

digital read-out then appears on a screen and takes a signal code and turns it into a word read-

out. For instance, if Walnut Avenue School installed a new alarm that is compatible with the

Digitize Board, it would be assigned a unique four (4) digit main alarm code. For the purpose of

this explanation, the alarm code for Walnut Avenue School is “1234”. Any “zones” associated

with that alarm are in the form of a two (2) digit suffix which may stand for “general fire alarm

(01)” or “general burglary alarm (10)”. In this case, if alarm “1234-01” activated, the Digitize

Board would recognize code “1234” as Walnut Avenue School and “-01” as general fire alarm

and would subsequently send this signal to the police department’s Digitize Board, reading

“Walnut Avenue School General Fire Alarm”. It should be noted that any data identifying what

the six (6) digit code stands for must be manually inputted by a system administrator. For

instance, if the system administrator failed to enter signal 1234-01 as “Walnut Avenue School

General Fire Alarm”, the system would only send the six (6) digit code across the screen,

causing confusion in the Communications Center. Although the technology is rarely incorrect,

when a human factor is considered, errors are likely even in the most optimal of circumstances.

The digitize board would signal an audible alarm and SHOULD read out the six (6) digit code and

its manually entered data. In some occasions, communication breakdowns between alarm

servicers and the digitize board system administrator within the Cranford Police Department

cause confusion with alarm signals. For instance, if a customer at a Cranford residence added a

zone to their existing alarm system but failed to inform the Cranford Police Department’s

system administrator, once activated the code would only be a numeric alarm instead of a

word-readout. These breakdowns in communication speak on behalf of human administrative

errors, but the system in place does not address the speedy determination of what location (let

alone which zone) the alarm is originating from.

In the instance discussed above, a new signal being received yet not previously programmed

into the digitize board would only show as a six (6) digit numeric code. Although Walnut

Avenue School has other programmed codes, the digitize board will not recognize “parts” of a

numeric code. Simply put, despite the system recognizing code 1234 as Walnut Avenue School,

the system will not recognize code 1234-02 if it is not programmed into the board by the

system administrator. In these circumstances, alarm location becomes the paramount focus of

the dispatcher. The dispatcher must refer to one of four binders that contain all 1,300

registered alarms. The dispatcher must sort through these binders and find alarm 1234 to

determine which premises are sending the alarm signal. Once located, the dispatcher must

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determine if there is a burglary alarm on the premises, a fire alarm on the premises, or both

types of alarms on the premises. If only one alarm is registered on the premise, by default the

dispatcher will assume this registered alarm is the type of signal being received. This does not,

however, consider for those after-market additions to existing alarm systems previously

discussed. In more common cases, each premise has both burglary and fire alarm monitoring,

so a dispatcher must determine from the suffix code on the digitize board if a hand-written

description was included with the alarm application. Unfortunately, less stringent

requirements for alarm registration are in place, including a rarely enforced Township

Ordinance requiring all residences and businesses to register their respective systems with the

Cranford Police Department. As a result of the lacking enforcement of this ordinance

requirement, the Cranford Police Department Records Bureau is pleased to receive any

application and fee at all, let alone a completed and thorough form.

These series of human errors are inherently complicated and unfortunately not immediately

solved by data management tools. That being said, time management and expediency in

receiving, sorting and disseminating correct data to responding units is a principal concern of

law enforcement administrations countrywide. In order to perform an essential function of

being a dispatcher, every foreseeable obstacle should be removed from their path. The current

antiquated system of referring to a paper database to determine an alarm location and nature

not only clutters the dispatchers’ workspace, but it adds critical time to the dispatch and

subsequent response to burglary and fire alarms. Life or death circumstances depend on

effective systems that are reliable and trusted. Alarm system monitoring is an unavoidable part

of the dispatcher’s duties, and mitigating confusion while reducing dispatch and response times

should be the goal of every law enforcement administration. More importantly, while law

enforcement officers and dispatchers are trained to be professionals while under pressure,

factors such as adrenaline, stress, and having to multi-tasking with other responsibilities in the

dispatch center call for as simple a process as possible for the employee to perform their job as

swiftly and certainly as possible.

A significant portion of revenue is made by the Cranford Police Department for their annual

alarm system monitoring. Instead of the typical $300-$500 annual payments to ADT, Sloman’s

Shield, or Broadview Security, residences and businesses can be monitored by the Cranford

Police Department from anywhere between $0 for government buildings, $90 per year for

residences, and $200 per year for businesses. This competitive fee is a much needed form of

revenue for the Cranford Police Department amounting to over $100,000.00 per year. If the

Cranford Police Department gains a negative reputation for its alarm board monitoring, a for-

profit service may potentially draw a source of revenue away from the Township.

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Proposed Course of Action: What I foresee is providing the Cranford Police Department with a comprehensive database that includes all of the registered alarms, zones, contact information for representatives, and administrative functions such as fee payment and registration. This system will replace the current paper database in daily operations. Additionally, while this database will be formed to serve the efforts of operations and alarm monitoring, the Police Records Bureau handles an arduous task of sending notices to all contact representatives in order to receive the most current alarm information and registration fee. As the Cranford Police Department Records Bureau is already outfitted to accept electronic payments of fees through a credit card machine, this system of fee collection and registration could eventually be streamlined onto the Cranford Police Department’s website. This database, as proposed, must be extremely user friendly and easily accessible for all dispatchers. All dispatch terminals must be outfitted with Microsoft Access and each dispatcher must be proficient on the use of such a system. Without proper training, this modernized and streamlined system will create a much greater response time than its previous paper-equivalent did. Fortunately, the Cranford Police Department currently uses Microsoft Access for vital contact information databases created by the Communications Division. When the Communications Division and the Records Bureau are able to mirrors their database systems and consolidate all information into one system under Microsoft Access, the end result is a more effective system of information collection, usage and dissemination – something vital to the Cranford Police Department’s reputation.

Database Components: The database being proposed will take all information on each registration form and consolidate each piece of information collected into one full record. Beginning with the alarm number, addresses, zones, contact persons, and alarm types will be the predominant pieces of data readily available by search. Dispatchers will have the ability to take a piece of information and search for an entire record based on that one piece of data. For instance, if an audible alarm was sounding at 123 Main Street and you wanted to see what types of alarms were on the premises, a dispatcher would be able to search all of the alarms registered to “Main Street” in Cranford and scroll down to address “123” to find the information being sought. The current paper database does not allow for individual pieces of database to lead to the entire file unless you have the alarm’s respective “code”.

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Additional components of the database include:

• Alarm number

• Zones

• Alarm types

• Contact Information for representatives

• Registration fee dates

• False alarm dates

• Warnings or summonses issued for false alarms

Impact of New System of Organization: When the Cranford Police Department spent nearly $1 Million in 2003 changing the Communications Center into a dispatch center meant for the new millennium, the powers that be failed to consider breaking bad habits of data management for fear of the unknown. While changing the ways things are done just for the sake of change is sometimes inappropriate, the modernization of the Communications Center still left residual paper systems in place that create challenges for those tasked with performing an essential function. “Paperless Desk”. This was the mindset of the 2003 Police Administration in the Cranford Police Department when this renovation occurred. Unfortunately, the opportunity to modernize and condense old databases passed while poor habits, inconsistent dispatching, and cluttered work areas festered. Today, this newly proposed system of data management is a step in the right direction with the employee in mind. Reducing the amount of time for a dispatcher to ascertain which alarm is activated essentially directly effects response times by reducing the amount of time Cranford Police Officers take to arrive at a burglary or fire alarm call. As it is 2013, all dispatchers are more proficient in the usage of computer systems than dispatchers of the past and this new alarm database will fit naturally into their daily operations. Currently, dispatchers are assigned computerized radios, 9-1-1 terminals, door-lock systems, camera systems, global positioning satellites for police cars, and Dictaphone radio/phone recording systems in place. Policies are no longer hand-written and have been incorporated into a digital database that all employees may easily access and reference on demand. The additional database joins these valuable systems of data management in easing the congested, confusing, and high-stress environment in the Communications Center while removing an antiquated system of data management that physically cluttered this same space. Those employed as dispatchers will appreciate this change as willingly as they welcomed the technological upgrades in 2003 and thereafter.

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Conclusion: The Cranford Police Department has the technology at his disposal and the employees who are

ready, willing and able to employ such an upgraded system. Ultimately, the Cranford Police

Department Administration is the only source that can determine if this is a worthwhile effort.

If those who use the system for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week can appreciate it, its value should

be recognized by the administration. Additionally, the reduction of mistakes or the potential to

make mistakes by having a clearly outlined database in turn reduces liability for the Cranford

Police Department. Lastly, making the Cranford Police Department’s alarm monitoring the

most effective system ensures that the department will continue to compete, attract, and

retain revenue paying “customers” who will appreciate a highly effective system run by

competent employees.