Index Last Issue Contact DQ News Latest Issue
Atlanta Police Department Improves
Public Access to
Documents
According to an article in the December issue of Imaging Magazine (ISSN 1083-2912), the Atlanta Police Department has significantly improved public access to documents and the quality of the data formerly stored in paper files and on microfilm. Recently, the Atlanta Police Department's paper and microfilm files became a major headache for the Department. More than 1,000 daily accident and "incident" reports are filed daily, averaging 12 sheets of paper. This amounts to more than 4 million sheets of paper annually.
Getting paper reports refiled after the first use was a serious problem, since clerks sometimes misfiled reports. Access to millions of individual records was difficult and frustrating. Typically, "incident" (e.g., burglary) and accident reports are needed within days of the occurrence to file insurance claims. The new records system is based on document imaging. Paper reports are scanned and stored twice: first on an 80 gigabyte magnetic RAID system for quick access. Then they're put on an optical disk for archiving and security. The lag time between incidents/accidents and document availability has been reduced from a week to less than 48 hours. Hierarchical Storage Management ensures that 90% of retreival requests find the requested document in less than a second. Forms mapping and zooming improves data quality by minimizing errors. Employee productivity has improved since clerical employees no longer have to make xerographic copies from bound volumes. In the future, attorneys and insurance companies may have direct access to the system over the Internet - once the Police Department resolves privacy and security issues. The article was written by Gordon Hoke and appears on page 22. The Imaging Magazine Web site can be found at www.imagingmagazine.com.