Efficient
Crime Reporting is just a Phone Call Away
Made
famous by the acclaimed author, Bill Bryson, Des Moines in Iowa deals
with 55,000 police investigation reports a year.
Now the Des Moines Police Department has successfully boosted its crime
reporting system by switching to a completely automated dictation system.
The Des Moines Police Department employs a total of 483 people, including
364 sworn police officers and the records department processes over
55,000 police investigation reports each year.
To provide a smooth reporting process, the police department has implemented
a completely automated dictation system. ‘Our officers have access
to a phone-in dictation system at any time, day or night,’ says
Robert Carlson, Senior Police Officer. ‘With this convenient solution,
officers can file their reports directly from the crime scene, using
a regular phone to dictate all their reports.’
Faster report filing
As speech is the fastest means of communications available, dictating
their reports to a computerised system reduces paperwork and gives officers
more time to focus on their case loads. Using the digital dictation
system, police officers on patrol can list all crime details at a fraction
of the time needed when hand writing or typing them. Most dictations
at the Des Moines Police Department come from the criminal investigations,
vice and traffic divisions. As officers reporting on an incident do
not even have to be present at the department, they can stay available
for service in the city while filing their reports.
‘We had already been using a dictation system for several years
when we felt it was time to upgrade. The system we were using at the
time didn't seem very reliable anymore and two years ago we decided
to a move to a state-of-the-art dictation system,’ explains Robert
Carlson. When DigiScribe-XL from Crescendo was recommended to the police
department by long-time Crescendo Iowa distributor Wahltek, Inc., they
found that it clearly met all their requirements and decided to implement
this feature-rich and secure digital dictation system.
Digital identification
‘During the initial training, Crescendo gave us little cards with
basic instructions which helped us to quickly get used to the dictation
solution. We didn't require a lot of training as it is a very easy system
to use,’ continues Robert Carlson. To dictate their reports, officers
simply dial a specific number and are immediately connected to the dictation
system. Once they have provided their identification number as well
as a case number, they can start recording.
‘Officers can not only record their dictations but they can also
stop at any time to listen to what they have just recorded. They can
also easily suspend a recording and come back to it later. It's much
more convenient than typing or using a tape-based dictation system,’
insists Robert Carlson. While officers at other police departments using
a micro-cassette recorder have to physically transport their dictation
tapes to the transcription department, DigiScribe-XL will immediately
provide the typists with electronic files. In addition, voice files
are kept safe from duplication and accidental deletion and can be retained
long after they have been committed to paper or stored in a records
management system.
The Des Moines Police Department has three typists on the payroll for
the report transcription and they usually type up each report either
on the same day or the next, depending on their workload and the report's
priority. The typists will transcribe and finish reports on a major
crime like homicide before they start working on the report of a burglary
or a traffic incident. Once a typist has transcribed a report, the final
document will be archived in the section's Police Report Computerised
Information System (PRCIS). Based on the case number, each report will
be stored in the respective case file and the distribution of reports
throughout the police department is handled electronically via the PRCIS.
As easy as picking up the phone
‘We implemented DigiScribe-XL two years ago and since the very
first day we have not encountered any problems whatsoever. It's a really
good system, it runs smoothly and it's extremely reliable,’ concludes
Robert Carlson. ‘Since the new system has been installed, more
and more officers have been using the phone-in functions. This digital
dictation system is so easy to use that you would not want to go back
to producing your reports on paper again once you have done it over
the phone.’
Frequently Asked Questions: DigiScribe-XL
Q What file format does DigiScribe-XL use to store dictation?
A Telephone industry standard Adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation
(ADPCM).
Q How many MB do you need for one hour of recording?
A 14.4 MB per hour of recorded voice.
Q Can DigiScribe-XL interface with Dictaphone or Lanier?
A Yes, Crescendo provides a number of interfacing options.
Q Can information from DigiScribe-XL or MedRite-XL be exported into
Access or Excel?
A Yes, Crescendo provides a number of interfacing options.
Q Does DigiScribe-XL come with online help?
A Yes, DigiScribe-XL is equipped with an online help (by pressing the
Ctrl F1 key) and a manual in electronic form which can be printed by
the client.
Q I received an error message during the installation ‘not enough
disk space’.
A When running the installation, temporary files are always placed on
the C drive. You must ensure that your C drive has 100 MB of free space
before installing.
Q I received a ‘transfer error’ during the update.
A This error is caused by stopping the update installation at a particular
point and then restarting it. What happened is that it deleted the cscsysio.dll
file. You need to copy the dll from the root directory of the CD-ROM
drive and place it in the WinNTSystem32 directory.
Q When starting the dictation application I receive the message ‘the
license for the product has expired’.
A If you are not running a demonstration version of the software, verify
that the Dialogic services have started.
Web: http://www.crescendosystems.co.uk