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The Hillsdale County Sheriff’s office is implementing a variety of new technologies to update its systems and streamline its processes. Since the first of the year, the Sheriff’s office has made upgrades to their report-writing systems as well, as their Jail Management Solution (JMS). It also plans to implement an electronic citation system in the near future.
The new JMS called JailTracker replaces the operating system that had been in place for about 30 years. The former system was a number based system that didn’t allow a person to point and click with a mouse on a computer.
“It was outdated,” Hillsdale County Sheriff Tim Parker said. “We could no longer submit crime data to the state of Michigan and that eventually goes to the FBI.”
The Sheriff’s office was able to also obtain a grant to purchase new computers to run the system and implemented it this past February. JailTracker allows the tracking and processing of offenders from booking to release. The information is available to the public online.
“The switch has streamlined many of our operations by providing electronic options that we previously would use paper forms for,” Jail Commander Lt. Jason Stiverson said in an email. “My goal is to become paperless. JailTracker provides the ability for electronic signatures, document uploading, user friendly dashboards and scheduling options.”
On Jan. 1, the office also implemented a new report writing system. The Talon Incident Management System or TIMS allows officers to complete reports on the road.
“We cover 600 square miles,” Parker said. “Officers used to have to come in and file reports in the office. Now, they can just sit down and type the report in the cars.”
TIMS provides a more streamlined process and can help with precision when officers are writing reports.
“It could also enhance accuracy from a memory standpoint,” Parker said.
The office plans to go live with another new system soon called e-Citation. Before e-Citation, officers issued traffic citations via handwritten tickets. In order for a ticket to processed by the District Court, the ticket had to be physically brought into the court. The court then had to interpret the handwriting and enter the information from the ticket into their computer system.
“The tickets began to look like pretty bad scratching,” Parker said. “This new system allows for a ticket to be printed on the scene and for an electronic version to be sent directly to the District Court.”