Over 23,500 violent crimes occur each year in the State of Missouri, from homicides to sexual and physical assaults. Often many go unsolved or are left open for many years. In the past crime investigation was basically a manual, paper-intensive process resulting in numerous non-standardized reports. These reports would populate a case file that would grow unmanageable and hard to organize, thus making it difficult for law enforcement officers to ascertain leads and analyze crime scene information. As the case file grew, it would make it increasingly more complex to link information not only within that particular case, but with other unsolved violent crimes. It had evolved into a labor and time-intensive process to research past cases for possible links.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol knew it needed to find a means to manage the high volume of data associated with violent crime investigations and ensure that all leads were followed up on and all interviews conducted. Beginning in 1994, the Violent Crimes Support Unit staff, along with the Information Systems division staff began the task of developing a case management system that would provide a database for the collection of general case information such as license plate numbers, car types, autopsy information, etc. The other critical component of the system was the ability for it to run full-text searches on the database to generate leads and link together common threads of information between not only the case under investigation, but to search and link the case data with past crimes. The initial implementation of the Violent Crime Case Management System was successfully completed in July of 1995.
Since its implementation, the case management system has changed the way law enforcement officers investigate violent crimes. With the ability to electronically access standardized reports, organize and search the massive amounts of evidence and information collected, track the crime timeline and research prior violent crime cases for similar data and leads, Missouri’s Violent Crimes Support Unit can now focus on the details of solving the crime rather than spending precious time combing through mountains of paperwork.
As an outcome of the case management system utilization, seventy-six cases have been entered with the majority of those ending with positive results. For example, the arrest and conviction of individuals involved in two serial rape cases can be attributed directly to the cross referencing function of the system to other violent crime cases.
This system significantly improves the productivity of officers and investigators, assisting the entire investigative process to be more efficient and effective. But most important, this automated system enables crimes to be solved more quickly, taking criminals off the streets and making communities safer. Perhaps the greatest outcome is for the State of Missouri to be able to offer the victims of violent crimes and their families the knowledge that everything possible is being done to bring closure to their case and bring justice to the offenders.
Description of Project
Over 23,500 violent crimes occur each year in the State of Missouri, from homicides to sexual and physical assaults. Often many go unsolved or are left open for many years. These crimes have always been investigated utilizing a manual, paper-intensive process. When a violent crime takes place, law enforcement officers, ranging from the local sheriff to the FBI, arrive on the scene with notepaper in hand. Multiple officers write down what they see and hear, then return to their offices to type up or hand write their reports. The lead officer then compiles the information from the numerous reports and assigns officers different leads to investigate. From each lead, yet another paper report needs to be completed. As the case folder grows, the papers become more difficult to organize, making it increasingly difficult to link information and solve violent crimes.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol knew it needed to find a means to manage the high volume of data associated with violent crime investigations. It needed to find a solution to ensure that all leads were followed up on and all interviews conducted. Beginning in 1994, a Violent Crimes Support Unit was created in order to reduce the number of unsolved crimes and to help solve violent crimes more quickly. With this unit in place, the need was identified to find a way to leverage the use of technology to accomplish their task. A project team was formed to develop and implement an information technology solution. This team consisted of investigators, Violent Crime Support Unit staff, Information Systems division staff. Lotus Notes was chosen as the development software due to its groupware application’s ability to help organizations communicate, collaborate, and coordinate strategic business processes within and beyond their organizational boundaries. The initial implementation of the Violent Crime Case Management System was successfully completed in July of 1995.
The Violent Crime Case Management System has two main sections. One is for the general case information such as case number, participating agencies, and other general case information. The other is based on leads and is the critical component to crime solving. As information is obtained, the analysts add words such as license plate numbers, car types, autopsy information, etc., to the database, thus allowing users to run full-text searches on these words. This database also allows investigators to conduct searches of crimes that happened years ago, linking common threads between those and the one currently under investigation.
As a testament to the importance of this system and its innovative use of technology, in 1996 the Violent Crime Case Management System received the prestigious Computerworld Smithsonian Award. It was honored for being one of the most significant new applications of information technology in the world today.
Significance to the improvement of the operation of government
Prior to the implementation of this case management system, the world of Violent Crimes Task Force investigations was a paper-oriented environment. One in which investigators from multiple law enforcement agencies came together for a common cause. Each agency represented in the process brought their own forms, documents, and investigative methods. The development of the case management system served as a catalyst for the standardization of forms. This standardization made entry of information into the system a much more timely task, as leads brought in by each agency were now consistent and complete. Task force members were now able to spend their time conducting a through investigation, no longer hampered with unnecessary paperwork and time-intensive searching of handwritten documents. It literally created a culture change in how law enforcement personnel conducted their investigations.
The introduction of this system has also made a significant impact in relation to the way violent crime information is initially collected. With laptops for law enforcement personnel in the field and workstations in the base office, it allows law enforcement personnel to be totally mobile, entering up-to-date information from any location. Being completely mobile prevents information from needing to be handwritten or keyed more than once, saving a significant amount of time for the officers to further investigate leads and reduces the chance of any information being left off of the reports.
Benefits realized by service recipients, taxpayers, agency or state
The Missouri State Highway Patrol immediately recognized the benefits offered by the Violent Crime Case Management System. It has standardized the Patrol’s reporting methods and made it simpler to develop, read, and access the reports, increasing efficiency of investigative processes and empowering investigators. The system enables the investigators to logically organize the massive amounts of evidence and information collected, significantly reducing the administrative burden. The system’s capability to connect varied case information increases the number of leads to investigate, flagging information that the officers may not have seen under the old system.
Along with the benefit of standardized reports, the Missouri State Highway Patrol is now able to provide the prosecuting attorney’s office with a well-organized case file, one that can sometimes include as much as 900 documents, thus providing easy access to the information and enhancing their analysis capabilities. The more detailed and organized the information, the more likely the prosecuting attorney will not miss any critical information and will be able to swiftly prosecute the criminal to the fullest degree. Prosecutors can also use this system to generate their evidence and witness packets for trial.
Another benefit of the system is its timeline capability. Tracking time is critical in criminal cases. With the automated case management system, officers can use a timeline to determine where each suspect was when the crime occurred. In addition, the system enables officers to access information detailing when various evidence was found and witness statements were taken. By having access to an accurate, up-to-date timeline of events, officers can easily compare data and find any inconsistencies of links.
A benefit that was realized, but not anticipated at the time of system conception was the ability for officers to become instantly knowledgeable about their witnesses or suspects by reviewing data attributed to them. This has proven invaluable when the officers conduct second and third interviews with witnesses and suspects by being able to instantly compare the consistency of all reports pertaining to those subjects and anyone else who may have mentioned them during the interview process.
By entering information into the Violent Crime Case Management System, more leads are identified and better managed. The application has an unassigned lead list to inform the officers of leads that have been left unassigned. All case information is indexed by document number, thus increasing the accuracy and allows officers to efficiently find and access critical lead data. With the capability of running full-text searches on key words, the system can find links between two pieces of evidence that might not have been found if the officers had to search through paper reports. A real-life example of this is a case that had, until recently, been left unsolved. In this particular case a food substance was found in the victim’s stomach during the autopsy. The autopsy report was entered into the Violent Crime Case Management System and when a search was run on the substance, the investigators realized that the same substance had been found in a suspect’s vehicle. The same benefit can be found when comparing recent crimes with past crimes to try and find a common thread.
Return on investment – short-term/long-term payback
Since implementation of the case management system, seventy-six cases have been entered with the majority of those ending with positive results. For example, the arrest and conviction of individuals involved in two serial rape cases can be attributed directly to the cross referencing function of the system to other violent crime cases.
Ultimately, the Violent Crime Case Management System significantly improves the productivity of officers and investigators, the analysis, and the efficiency of the entire investigative process. Instead of reading through hundreds of paper documents trying to find a missing link in a case, officers have more time to be out on the streets protecting the community. But most important, this automated system enables crimes to be solved more quickly, taking criminals off the streets and making communities safer. This alone is a return on investment that cannot always be measured in numbers or dollars. The greatest return on investment occurs when the state can offer the victims of violent crimes and their families the knowledge that everything possible is being done to bring closure to their case and bring justice to the offenders.
