In an effort to widen channels of community communication and its officers, the Scotts Valley Police Department recently launched an online records management program.
The Citizen Records Information Management System — or RIMS — went online in August 2012, but was not made public until November so department members could familiarize themselves with the new program, said Tamera Melrose, the dispatch and records supervisor for Scotts Valley police.
“This was a little more advanced than what we’ve been using,” said Melrose, who installed the new software. “This has been a big, big change for us.”
With the new program, the casual Internet user can access information including:
n All arrests made by the police department in the previous 10 days
n The department’s most wanted list
n A list of recently stolen vehicles
n A list of missing persons
Browsers will also have access to an interactive pin map that indicates the location, time, and type of incidents police respond to.
Eventually, Melrose said, visitors to the site will be able to view graphs that chart the levels of incidents by type and by date.
But since the data on the site only go back to August 2012, it may be some time before there will be any usable data, she said.
Still, she and others in the department say the system will benefit local residents.
“Citizen RIMS was another way to be proactive with the community,” Melrose said. “This was a way for them to obtain information without waiting for us to prepare it for them.”
Citizen RIMS is also meant to give field officers access to the department’s full database from the computers installed in their patrol cars.
With the program, Melrose said, officers can have faster response times to calls through a computer-aided dispatch system that feeds information about incidents as they’re being reported on the laptop computers installed in patrol cars.
“With our old system, our officers couldn’t access (computer-aided dispatch) at all,” Melrose said. “With the new system, they can see the incident on screen — it’s more proactive.”
Another feature allows officers to call up pictures of suspects, cars they are typically found driving and people they’re frequently in the company of.
“It helps (officers) do their job in a more efficient, more effective way,” Melrose said.
At a glance
To access RIMS, visit svpd.crimegraphics.com
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