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059-1999 LTC CITY OF MIAMI BEACH CITY HALL 1700 CONVENTION CENTER DRIVE MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA 33139 http:\\cLmiami-beach.fl.us .__MM__MM____ __ ___a _________________________________________________________M____________________________________ ___ _____________________________.____________________________M_._.___M_ - _M__ ________________ 59-1999 L.T.C. No. LETTER TO COMMISSION March 1, 1999 TO: Mayor Neisen O. Kasdin and Members of the City Commission FROM: Sergio Rodriguez City Manager SUBJECT: THE 1999 OLICE DEP ARTMENT AUTOMATION PLAN This Letter to the Commission is to provide the Mayor and City Commission with copies of the 1999 Police Department Automation Plan. This plan provides the framework for the Police Department's automation needs through Fiscal Year 2000/2001. The plan contains four major goals, as well as the steps needed to obtain them. The four major goals are: 1. To provide equal access to adequate computing resources for all employees; 2. To provide adequate training for all employees; 3. To increase the automation of department forms and provide easier employee access to all department information; and 4. To obtain greater control over expenditures for computers, service provided to employees, and implementation of department priorities. Each one of these goals is thoroughly discussed in the attached plan documents. Please direct any questions that you may have to the Police Department. SRJ~JS/PS/MMS/lef F:\POL/\ TECHSER V\ACREDlT\ WORK\ WPDOCS\SOMBERG\Automation Plan.ltc,wpd .:~~\\.~\."'C.~ ~~ 1999 AUTOMATION PLAN ~MIAMIBEACH~ ='-;OlICE= LT. BRIAN MILLER TECHNICAL SERVICES DIVISION INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT UNIT Our Current Automation Environment, The Strengths ( and the weaknesses). The Strengths.. The Department has acquired a large number of personal computers providing various levels of automation to a large percentage of our employees. Phase III acquisition was completed with the addition of 23 new personal computers, several printers and other related accessories. All of these PC's are connected to the City network. Internal email services are now available for most supervisory and command personnel with the recent addition of email accounts for all Sergeants. We are well into the implementation of a new computer aided dispatch and records management system and a new 911 telephone system. These will provided better management information for decision making and give us a much greater capacity to utilize the data collected. Providing wide spread employee access to this information will be much easier to implement at a lower cost compared with our existing CAD/RMS systems. We are getting closer to obtaining a mobile computing system and should have it installed by the third quarter of 1999. Such a system will allow us to capture crime and investigative information that would otherwise not be available because of insufficient data entry personnel. It will provide approximately 35 of our patrol officers with direct access to computing resources which have not been available in the past due to their mobile working environment. An additional grant has been received to purchase 27 laptop computers for CID personnel. These will primarily provide investigators with field access to local, FCIC and NCIC inquiry capabilities. There are also indications that additional technology grants will be available. The City's acquisition of high-speed dedicated Internet access now provides us with a potential instant link to a wealth of important information. This type of access supplies benefits not only to individual employees or units but will provide the foundation for a much greater interaction between the Department and the citizens of Miami Beach in the future. 19 personal computers in the Department now have direct access to the Internet. We are poised to interconnect our network with the statewide Criminal Justice Network (CJNET) developed by F.D.L.E. This network will provide the structure for giving criminal justice agencies throughout the State access to each other's internal data as well as access to State maintained data such as instant drivers license photographs. Florida is one of the leading states in the nation in this endeavor and the Department is moving forward in being able to take advantage of this important resource and the future it holds in the coming years. The Department has hired a CAD/RMS Manager (Info. Tech III) to manage the operation of our new CAD and RMS systems. This individual will also be involved in other computer related activities within the Department. This was a major accomplishment as the first dedicated computer specialist who is an actual employee of the Police Department. This should provide the users of CAD and RMS with a much greater level of assistance than they have experienced in the past. Without the presence of such internal expertise and manpower, we would not be able to accomplish many of the future projects envisioned. The Department will be able to begin providing in-house software application development services rather than having to rely solely on personnel outside of the Department for all software development. The accessibility of personal computers and basic office automation to our employees have enhanced their awareness of how computers can improve their ability to accomplish their job. This has resulted in many areas throughout the Department looking to take further advantage of information technologies to increase their effectiveness. Many of our employees have come up with excellent ideas for using technology to improve the level of service provided to the public. Looking at our situation broadly, the Department has acquired the basic structure for taking the next steps towards increased office productivity and information automation. The availability of federal grants over the last several years and the Department's willingness to utilize forfeiture funds has allowed the Department to take a giant step in automation in only a few years. Prior to this commitment, our Department was years behind many other police agencies of similar size. As one employee aptly put it, "three years ago our employees had better access to computing resources at home than at work, fortunately that's no longer the case". Weaknesses. . A large number of our personal computers are at the end of their useful life span. These constitute the first large PC acquisitions the Department undertook several years ago. Unfortunately we were required then to purchase PC's which were under powered and based on an older generation of microprocessor, even at that time, by industry standards. As a result, the useful life span of these PC's were severely limited when they were purchased and their usefulness has expired prematurely. Because of these under powered old technology machines, we are experiencing a workforce of "haves" and "have nots" from a computing perspective. Those with these older PC's are unable to utilize the latest generation of application software and some are not connected to the network. These employees are not able to easily exchange documents or information with other employees. They will also be unable to take advantage of new office automation and productivity software applications that are planned for the near future. Access to information from our new CAD and Records systems will not be possible using these PC's. Their replacement will be costly but necessary. In spite of the wide spread availability of personal computers for employees, we still suffer from information that is difficult to access, segmented and hard to find. Although documents and information of use to many of our employees is present on the city network it is difficult or impossible to access for most employees. Where it is accessible, an employee must know which particular software application is needed to read the information and then must navigate through numerous file servers, directories and cryptic file names to locate the correct file. Much of the information resides in separate, stand-alone databases. General personnel information and related data is maintained in databases which are physically located on the network but accessible only to a few individual employees who maintain the information. There is no consistent, user-friendly means of getting to this information. In many ways, we have an automated version of a poor manual filing system. The Department must rely on others for the provision of most computer support services. The purchase of computers and related equipment can be cumbersome and time consuming. Equipment installation can take weeks following delivery. Provision of repair services can sometimes be significantly delayed and it is difficult to maintain control or keep track of Department purchased computer equipment. We have limited control over the provision of computing resources to our employees. In many cases, Departmental automation priorities are essentially determined by others with naturally conflicting priorities. The Department's expanding level of computerization is surpassing the availability of a corresponding level of supporting services. This current organizational situation has unfortunately limited the Department's ability to take advantage of available technology as easily as other police agencies are able to. Employee computer training needs to be improved, Without adequate training, a personal computer can be an expensive typewriter for an employee and may provide little or no enhancement of their productivity. Specialized training is needed for command officers and managers so they can better utilize the personal productivity applications that now exist on their computers. The Department still relies heavily on printed documents. Although electronic mail has greatly reduced the amount of printed memorandums, there has not been significant automation of other common forms, reports or business documents. Although several forms and reports are now created on PC's they are still immediately printed out and the hardcopy routed manually. All crime and investigative reports are still filed by Records in their hardcopy form. The Department manual, SOP's and Departmental orders are printed by the hundreds and distributed to employees in hardcopy form. There is no network wide access to these manuals. In order to search for a prior order or directive, an employee must hand search through reams of printed material that mayor may not be correctly filed by the individual employee or unit where it is maintained. ,NClturallythe":~tateef. automation within the ,Department ~xhibits both strengthsapd ,'>';;':'''':'cLS;,,! 'Neakn~ss~s':~Iher~are'some"negative' aspeCtst~6urcurTen.t automationen"ironmerlt-becaus~.: ~.we-hav,e'm~Ci~'~o'rn'uc:h'progress over the last several years:The'underlyin 'supportstructure": , . eave een, aple ,to ep oy' a significant amount of personal compufers an our major "".'.;,".' '~Y5terri5 are'Ondergoing 'substantial upgrades. Our next opportunity will be to integrate 6ur"'~ ,,".~~, information~~ource"~togeme~,and simplify' it's QSt3for our ,employees:The Departmentexp~'nd's' 'considera~I.~.ener$t~on~cting infOrmation andour future direction will be to'mei.keitmore:"', 'ac'cessibl~.'fpde~~,ryone:"" , .' ",' '..,",~ .' :.;~:+<';w: ' "'. . .' , ..~'c~>,;'~ ", .',;" Specific Goals and Projects The following descriptions provide general automation goals. Each goal will be realized by accomplishing specific projects. Specific projects are shown with a projected completion period described as follows: 1999 Completed by end of 1999. FY 99/2000 Completed during fiscal year 1999/2000 (Oct. 99 - Sept. 2000). FY 2000/2001 .. 2000/2001 (Oct. 2000 - Sept. 2001). The accomplishment of Department automation goals is highly dependent on several factors. These factors must be periodically evaluated to determine the ongoing feasibility of reaching goals or accomplishing specific projects. Flexibility is necessary and some adjustment can be expected. These factors include: The availability of funding. The availability of human resources to implement and support levels of automation. General technological trends. Computer technology is an extremely dynamic thing. Every month there are new developments that have the potential to change the way organizations operate. This, along with the unpredictable nature of municipal fiscal resources, make it difficult to develop a comprehensive plan more than a few years ahead. The goals presented below primarily cover a period through FY 2000/2001. It is recognized that accomplishing of all these goals will likely require additional grant funding that does not yet exist and/or a significant allocation of confiscated funds. We must be prepared to modify or eliminate goals or specific projects as funding becomes available or disappears, Additionally, we realize that priorities within a police agency change, either because of internal organizational decisions or external government or public demands. Goal 1 Provide equal access to adequate computing resources for all employees. By replacing our oldest generation of personal computers, we will eliminate our employees having to use two different sets of general office applications. Every employee will then be able to use the same word processing, email and spreadsheet applications. The existing problem of converting between WordPerfect and Microsoft Word documents will be eliminated. A significant number of our older PC's are either not Y2k compliant themselves or unable to run Y2k compliant software. The Department needs to seek funds from the City in order to replace these machines. New PC's will be purchased for those remaining areas or employees that still have insufficient or no access to a PC. This number should be relatively small considering our current numbers of PC's. Employees working at the N.E.S.S., Marine Patrol and Court liaison will be provided the same access to the City network, em ail and Dept. information as those working in the station (SIU already has this access). They will no longer be isolated from a computing perspective. Goal 2 Provide adequate training to all employees Each employee will be provided with the skills necessary to fully utilize the computing resources they need. This training will concentrate on general office applications such as word processing, spreadsheets, etc. Some employees, such as clerk-typist and administrative assistants who spend considerable time producing more complicated reports will be provided with advanced word processing training. The Department will realize a much greater return on it's investment in automation. Individual productivity will be increased. An acceptable outside training source will be found that balances the requirements to provide quality training at an acceptable cost. Executives and managers will receive special computer application training addressing their administrative and management duties. They generally do not need to know how to create a huge report themselves with a lot of complex charts. They have employees under their command to do that. They will however be able to automate many of the small, but time consuming, administrative tasks inherent in their positions. They will be able to spend more of their time on their primary function.. managing. A small in-house computer training lab will be developed and eventually provide the capacity to conduct software training in-house for small groups. This will reduce some of the need to utilize more costly outside training. This in-house training lab will also enable us to provide better training for new employees on those applications and systems where outside training is not available such as our CAD/RMS systems, mobile computers and in-house developed applications. Goal 3 Increase automation of Dept. forms and provide easier employee access to all Dept. information. Access to all Department information, databases, forms etc. will be available through a common, user-friendly interface. The availability of any type of computerized data to an employee will be based simply on security considerations, not on whether you have access to a certain PC or where you happen to be assigned. Everyone will use a common "web browser" application to view most forms of information whether it is a word processing document, spreadsheet, database or graphic. Through this common "internal web page" employees will be able to view a crime report, the Department Bulletin, any SOP or manual, training records, an employee evaluation, a vacation request, employee work schedules, etc. No longer will employee training records be accessible only to the Training Section. Overtime records or reports can be viewed by any supervisor or command officer from their own PC, not just by Support Services. Employees will be able to enter a word or series of words in a "search form" and retrieve a listing of any SOP, General Order or Manual section that contains those words. Click on the desired item and the full text of that item will be displayed. Every Manual, SOP or policy will be available to everyone on-line at any time. It will no longer be necessary to generate hundreds of hardcopies and physically hand them out. A new SOP can be automatically sent to every employee via em ail and an "electronic return receipt" will document that an employee received it. Employees will be able to fill out common Department forms on-line. These forms can then be routed electronically to any other employee or through an entire chain of command. Each employee receiving the form can then indicate an approval by attaching an "electronic signature". It will no longer be necessary for each entity receiving a form to keep their own filed hardcopy. Multiple and duplicated filings will no longer be necessary. Patrol field units will be able to perform their own FCIC/NCIC computer inquiries and receive detailed information from CAD on the call for service they have been assigned to. They will complete crime reports from their car and Records will no longer have to enter these reports. Even employees in the field will be able to send and receive em ail messages. The power of the City's existing network will be better utilized. A Department "intranet" (internal internet) will be established and all of our existing stand-alone smaller databases will rewritten and based in a database server that will help us provide a universal common interface accessible to all of our employees. Internet email capabilities will be acquired for all command officers so they will be able to correspond through email to anyone in the world with internet access. This will enable communication with police agency officials from any other law enforcement agency. Goal 4 Obtain greater control over expenditures for computers, service provided to employees and implementation of Dept. priorities. We will endeavor to obtain more control over the purchasing of computers and related hardware and software. Delivery of equipment directly to the Department will provide us with the ability to better track and maintain an inventory of our equipment. If we are able to purchase our own equipment (while still maintaining compatibility), we should be able to realize significant fiscal savings through the ongoing evaluation of the best brand and hardware configurations. The hiring of a police information technician to handle equipment installation, maintenance and some software development duties will provide the Chief of Police with more control over the automation priorities of the Department. New PC's will take much less time to install and repairs will be addressed much quicker. If a repair is delayed, it may be because another employee, working on a critical report has a broken computer. A delay would not occur because a printer in the Sanitation Dept. isn't working. User frustration over increasing delays in obtaining supporting services should be significantly reduced. A close working relationship must be and will be maintained between the Police Department and the City's I.T. Department. Gaining more management control over our own computing needs is not synonymous with going off on our own separate way. Only compatible equipment will be purchased by the Department after close consultation with I. T. Although each City organizational entity has it's own needs and priorities, we can not detach ourselves from the importance of maintaining integrated city-wide information systems. Many municipal and county police agencies, including local agencies, have shown for years that this operational model can work. Goal 1 Provide equal access to adequate computing resources for all employees. 1-1 Replace old PC's (Y2k issues) 1999 1-2* Purchase new PC's for those remaining employees w/o access. 1999 1-3* Provide better network connectivity for the N.E.S.S., Marine 1999 Patrol and Court liaison. 1-4 Replace 2m' generation PC's. FY 2000/2001 Goal 2 Provide adequate training to all employees. 2-1 Find outside training alternative to current City training supplier. 1999 2-2* Provide advanced word processing training to specific administrative 1999 personnel. 2-3* Provide productivity application training to command staff / Mgrs. 1999 2-4 Develop in-house PC training lab. FY 99/2000 Goal 3 Increase automation of Dept. forms and provide easier employee Access to all Dept. information. 3-1 Obtain a comprehensive forms management software package. FY 99/2000 3-2* Obtain equipment for a Dept. database / internal information web 1999 server. 3-3 Implement a Dept. internal information web server. FY 99/2000 3-4 Rewrite all stand-alone databases and integrate them into a data- FY 99/2000 Base server. Extend access throughout the Department. 3-5 Extend CAD/RMS information access to employees outside of FY 99/2000 PSCU and Records. 3-6* Complete the implementation of a mobile computing system. 1999 3-7 Acquire additional mobile computing equipment for Patrol field units. FY 99/2000 3-8 Complete acquisition of mobiles for remaining Patrol field units. FY 2000/2001 3-9 Provide on-line searchable access to all Dept. manuals & SOP's. FY 99/2000 3-10* Provide command officers with outside Internet Email access. 1999 Goal 4 Obtain greater control over expenditures for computers, service Provided to employees and implementation of Dept. priorities. 4-1 Obtain more control over equipment acquisition. 1999 4-2 Hire an Info. Technician I. FY 99/2000 4-3 Obtain capability for in-house PC installation/maintenance. FY 99/2000 Funding Note: Those projects with an asterisk (*) next to the project number Indicates funding through the latest LEBG grant or other funds Already allocated.