June 1990 RECORDS MANAGEMENT IN THE 1990s By Daniel L. Arkenau Lieutenant, Commander of the Records Unit Cincinnati, Ohio, Police Division By 1988, the backlog of police records processing at the Cincinnati, Ohio, Police Division reached the critical stage. As in many police departments, the Records Unit used logbooks and 3 x 5 index cards to track accident reports. This process was slow and extremely labor intensive. With hundreds of new reports and retrieval requests coming in each day, the future of record keeping looked even bleaker. In fact, it often took 6 weeks or more to fill requests for copies of reports. At the same time, the personnel complement in the unit continued to decrease. To make the situation worse, the Records Unit was coming under increasing pressure from insurance companies, city council members, and from private citizens to provide this information on a timely basis. At one point, a member of the local claims association even came to the office and demanded better service. Faced with this crisis, the division began to examine alternative methods of managing files. Record-keeping personnel considered several microfilm-based, computer-assisted retrieval systems before selecting the optical disk image retrieval system. This system proved to be the solution to a critical problem. The division started using the optical disk system in March 1989. With this system, police officers now can call the accident telephone line at the Records Unit and give the data entry operator the accident date, report number, names of drivers, locations, district of occurrence, and any injuries or fatalities. The data entry operator then enters this information into the optic system. This information provides a ready index of all basic information concerning the auto accident and can be retrieved, if needed, to provide a daily count of traffic problems in the city. When the original report arrives at the Records Unit, the data entry operator enters the report number from the original report. The automated, indexed information is then recalled from data memory and checked for proper spelling and street locations. The operator places the original report on the optic scanner which photographs the report. This image is transmitted to the optical disk for permanent storage. The entire process takes approximately 30 seconds. The original report can then be destroyed because the optic image can be used legally as the original. ADVANTAGES OF THE OPTICAL DISK IMAGE SYSTEM An optical disk image system offers several advantages in certain applications over other systems. With an optical image system, a laser beam is used to store electronic images on a specially treated metallic disk. Another laser then ``reads'' these bits of stored information and converts them into electronic impulses that can be interpreted by a computer. Because lasers are extremely precise, far more data can be stored on an optical disk than on a floppy disk or on a roll of microfilm. One 12-inch optical disk, for example, holds 2.4 gigabytes (2.4 million bytes) of information. An optical disk image system also offers instant recovery of all images on file and reduced storage space. And, it provides greater document security than microfilm because no film is sent to the lab for processing. BENEFITS According to the Technical Services Bureau Commander, ``The optical system's on-line retrieval capability has transformed the Records Unit into an efficient operation that truly serves the public.'' Today, all the information that insurance companies need to start processing a claim can be taken over the phone. When the original claim information arrives, it is scanned onto the optical disk. The image of the report can then be called up and printed in seconds. By using one or more of the 11 possible program descriptors, such as the driver's name and license number, the passenger's name, the time and location of the accident or the officer's badge number, any report or series of reports can be located and displayed in seconds. Each descriptor can also be modified to fit a particular application. For example, a range search function allows the operator to search reports on all accidents occurring within a specified range of dates, times, locations or other parameters. These broad search capabilities have made it possible for one person to accomplish, in a matter of minutes, retrievals that previously took three people hours to perform. The multiple search descriptors have also given the Records Unit greater flexibility and have made it easier to accommodate extraordinary cases, such as accidents involving utility poles or those involving numerous passengers. In addition, the system has had a phenomenal impact on productivity. After installing the optical system, the Records Unit was able to eliminate a backlog of 6,000 reports in approximately 4 weeks while keeping up with incoming reports and new requests. This would have been impossible with the old system. As a result, the number of complaints regarding turn-around time have decreased to zero. Integrating the system into the Records Unit's organization was relatively painless. It did not affect operations in any way. In fact, most of the police officers in the field were unaware that a new system was even installed. The system was effective almost immediately, and training personnel was accomplished with relative ease. CONCLUSION The improvements in the Records Unit have been felt throughout the police division. According to the Technical Services Bureau Commander, ``It's made officers in the field happy because they can come to the Records Unit and pick up a report immediately instead of having to wait around for an hour while the clerks try to find it.'' Today, it is difficult, if not impossible, to find anyone who is not impressed with the way the Records Unit is now serving the department and the community. Because of this new optical disk image retrieval system, efficiency now characterizes the Records Unit.