Public Safety and Justice - Law Enforcement
Click on one of the headings below to learn more about specific law enforcement projects we have recently completed.
Law Enforcement
- New Hampshire State Police
- Rhode Island State Police
- Vermont CJIS Project
New Hampshire State Police
Paperless Environment
The Problem
The Point Group was engaged by the New Hampshire Division of State Police to assess existing operations and develop an approach to migrate the Division to a "paperless" work environment. The move to a paperless environment was part of the Division's overall business strategy.
Scope of Work
The project assessed the current environment and recommend new technologies and a migration plan. The project assessed the existing technical architecture, as well as systems and processes. In addition, research was conducted, including numerous interviews with Public Safety employees, Troopers from the Division of State Police, local New Hampshire police departments, most of the other 49 State Police agencies, The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and software vendors actively engaged in providing solutions to Public Safety agencies.
Within the Division of State Police, the project encompassed Headquarters functions, Highway Enforcement, Field Operations, Investigative Services and Support Services. Other divisions, departments and agencies involved in the conduct of the project included DMV, Local Police, Courts and various Federal Agencies as appropriate.
Results
The Point Group developed a plan for a paperless environment that addressed both short and long-term automation needs of the Division of State Police. The plan was used a base to implement the overall program.
Rhode Island State Police
Law Enforcement Terminal System
The Problem
The Rhode Island State Police are responsible for the statewide law enforcement terminal switching network (RILETS). This network is used by local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to access state and national databases holding criminal history information, records of stolen property, outstanding warrants, and Department of Motor Vehicles information. The network operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and is the primary source of information for local agencies.
The switching network in Rhode Island (RILETS) handles inquiries from 68 separate agencies with a message volume of 18 million transactions per year.
In 1995 the State Police began work to replace the outdated switching network. The network had a number of problems: poor response times; no user expansion; high amounts of downtime; not upgradable to the new standards of national databases.
Scope of Work
As a result of a competitive bid, The Point Group was selected in August, 1995 to assist the State Police in the design, procurement and implementation of a new RILETS network including the switching system, network and end user devices.
The Point Group began this assignment with a comprehensive assessment of business requirements for all the parties involved in network use and management. As part of our work for the Department, the Point Group developed a system design and specification for the new switching network.
Results
The Point Group prepared the RFP for a system integrator to act as the prime vendor in the implementation of this new RILETS network and issued that RFP in December, 1995. We acted as advisor during the selection process, establishing the evaluation criteria and managing the evaluation process. Implementation of the RILETS network began in May, 1996 and The Point Group provided implementation oversight services on behalf of the State Police. These services continued through the acceptance of the completed network in March, 1997.
Rhode Island State Police
Records Management System
The Problem
The Rhode Island State Police (RISP) utilized a wide area network (WAN) connecting Novell LANs in six barracks locations and the RISP headquarters through frame relay services. The WAN provided E-mail services and the Microsoft Office suite of products for administrative use. While the office products provided a number of standard templates for use in report writing, there were no computer aided dispatch or records management applications available. In 1996 the RISP elected to procure a records management system to enhance case management and reduce the amount of redundant data entry for troopers and support personnel.
Scope of Work
The Point Group, by competitive bid, was chosen to assess the current technology and application, develop recommendations for improvements, define the requirements for a records management system and oversee the procurement process for the system.
The Point Group evaluated the operating environment in which the new system would function. This activity included an assessment of the current capacity and performance of the workstations, servers, and communications throughput in the State Police WAN. The result of this investigation was a plan to upgrade the WAN environment in total and open the product selection process beyond Novell based products to include NT Server.
In addition, The Point Group contacted over 90 prospective records management vendors to determine the 'best of industry' available. The vendor surveyed products that would operate in the selected environment, meet the technical specifications, and provided a distribution list for the completed RFP.
Results
The Point Group prepared the RFP for a Records Management System and issued that RFP in January, 1997. We acted as advisor during the entire selection process, establishing the evaluation criteria and managing the evaluation process and a contract was awarded in May, 1997.
State Of Vermont
Bennington County CJIS Project
The Problem
The Point Group's work for the State of Vermont focused on two key areas. First, the inability of law and justice agencies to access important data, and second, the introduction of video conferencing technology for arraignments between the Bennington County Court House and the central correctional facility in Rutland.
Scope of Work
We worked closely with the courts, state attorney, public defender, corrections, sheriff, state and local police departments. During a facilitation session we focused on their business processes and key information access problems. These became the tactical initiatives for The Pont Group to find a technology solution.
Results
After evaluating various integration strategies such as data sharing through open APIs, message switching, a data warehouse, and user interface design, we realized that the solution was clear. The solution uses Web technology with commodity products, windows, browser, and collaborative tools. This approach using commonly available and utilized computer technologies that many users already have and use in their office and home has proven successful in many ways.
TPG conducted some introduction to video conferencing sessions, giving many users and constituents a base of understanding. TPG coordinated the planning and installation of the cabling and communications and a procurement was conducted to select the products and services for the courts and corrections.