Automating business processes can drastically improve convictions and make a city’s streets safer for its citizens as well as its police officers. That’s what the police department and legislative branch of a major U.S. city learned firsthand.
The city had a complex, manual process for storing and tracking evidence in five secure warehouses across the city. When evidence was delivered to a warehouse, the archaic paper trail began. The object was manually checked in, recording the storage aisle and bin numbers, as well as the case file numbered to which it was attached. A paper receipt would be issued. When evidence was needed for trial, the requestor first needed to determine in which of the warehouses it was stored. If the evidence had already been checked out, they had to seek out the previous requestor and sometimes follow a chain of transfers to locate the evidence. The inefficiency of the process was costing labor hours, delays, and missteps and the department was under pressure to resolve the issues quickly.
Vicom Infinity partnered with Infinity Systems Software, IBM and a large Systems Integrator to architect a total solution for the department. Infinity's mainframe infrastructure optimization team of specialists designed, implemented, tested and readied the environment for the application integrator within the city's strict five-week deadline.
The infrastructure included an IBM System Z processor with six partitions. The three DB2 for z/OS database servers and three z/VM Linux virtualized machines to run the application front end were housed in the single mainframe, saving precious data center floor space, simplifying management and reducing costs. The environment was easily adaptable to accommodate the rapidly growing requirements of the department.
The integrated solution automated the evidence entry, retrieval and tracking system and enabled communication between all locations. Evidence was scanned at the point of entry and at each transfer point. When a case was called to court, the evidence could be recalled and located by case number, simplifying the entire process. The manual paper trail was eliminated completely.
With their new Property and Evidence Tracking solution, this city’s police officers can spend their time tracking down criminals instead of evidence.
For more information on customized solutions architected to improve your business outcomes, please contact Vicom Infinity.
