It will cost nearly $60,000 to partially resolve a list of police officer complaints about a new report-writing computer system, according to a report presented Tuesday to the Reno City Council.

And to complete the job, the city may need to spend another $400,000 to upgrade the $5.4 million Tiburon system installed last year.

Concerned the computer system forces officers off the streets to complete crime reports, the council asked the department to resolve a list of officer complaints. Since then, the department has solved 29 of 56 logged complaints.

Eight other problems will cost $57,324, including $30,000 to increase the number of letters that can be typed into the “city” field in crime reports. Incline Village, for example, doesn’t fit.

The money is included in the Information Services Department’s budget.

Bruce Kelling, chief executive officer of Tiburon Inc., defended the system, saying the long-term benefits will far outlast the growing pains experienced by officers now.

“What most departments find is it takes longer,” Kelling told the council. “So the first reaction is to measure the key strokes, or measure the amount of time it takes the officer to do the job. Unfortunately those are the wrong indicators.”

But Deputy Chief Jim Johns told the council that since the system has been implemented, the arrest rate has fallen slightly and officers are taking fewer reports.

He said he expects efficiency to climb when officers have computer terminals installed in their cars. And he said many officers struggle when the system goes down, asking to delay writing a report until the system is working again because it is quicker.

Instead of filling out a paper report while at a crime scene, officers drive to a station to type the report into the computer system.

Officer Mike Cleveland, president of the Reno Police Protective Association, said the system continues to be cumbersome and keeps officers off the streets.

“Police officers are basically armed secretaries,” he said. “If you don’t have a system that is extremely functional and extremely quick, it is devastating to our ability to service the community.”

Police administrators also proposed spending $479,000 to buy hand-held computers for report writing, $772,000 to hire 18 clerks to take dictation from officers or $410,000 for nine clerks to transcribe reports recorded by officers.

RGJ.com

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2002