In early 2007 the Lawrence Police Department contacted National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center-West for assistance with a problem faced by their School Resource Officers (SROs). The SROs are currently required to fill out numerous paper forms such as their Field Interrogation/Observation Forms (FIOs). In order to save time and effort by eliminating the paper forms and easily retrieve records later, the Department asked NLECTC-West for help in finding an affordable solution for automating these forms. The SROs will access these automated forms via handheld personal data assistants (PDAs) and the information will be stored in a database with search capabilities.
As of September 2007, NLECTC-West has assisted the Department with the purchase of the hardware and in obtaining a custom software solution. The Department has completed a field test of the PDA unit and provided feedback to NLECTC-West. The Center anticipates that they will incorporate improvements for the next version of the system by early 2008. For more information on the automated forms system, please contact NLECTC-West, 888-548-1618 or nlectc@law-west.org
