Computer Assistance for a State Police Agency - Is It a Necessity?

• NCJ Number: 78004
• Journal: Police Chief Volume: 48 Issue: 6 Dated: (June 1981) Pages: 36-40
• Author(s): R J Miller; J M Hayes
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 5 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This paper describes the design, implementation, and use of the Illinois Traffic Information Planning System (TIPS) computer system, which gives Illinois State troopers immediate access to information on traffic violators' past violation records.

Abstract

TIPS was designed to satisfy much of the operational data collection, entry, storage, processing, and retrieval needs of the Illinois State Police. The system was implemented in clerical and dispatcher phases. The clerical phase focuses on document control and retrieval and provides for on-line entry of document information, continuous update of trooper and district enforcement statistics, maintenance of a data base which houses information from citations and warnings written by State police during the most recent year, inquiry on and retrieval of those records, and an interface with the current Illinois Law Enforcement Agency Data System, the State motor vehicle files, and the National Criminal Information Center. The dispatcher phase of the system standardizes the status-recording of each trooper's activities and provides rapid access to accurate status information, so as to promote trooper safety and provide timely, accurate monthly reports that facilitate better management of resources. The CRT terminal--a visual display unit with a typewriter keyboard capable of receiving and transmitting information--was selected to perform the required tasks. Some of the batch reports produced by TIPS are man-hour tabulations, number of citations and written warnings, weapon control report, ticket book accounting reports, accident name file list by vehicle driver, arrest and disposition summary reports, and statistics for measuring division goals and objectives. The overall law enforcement advantage of TIPS is an increase in the arrest of chronic offenders. Data are provided to show the TIPS inquiries and 'hits' (inquiry leading to an arrest) for fiscal years 1975-79.