Agenda - Council - 03/12/1996 - Laserfiche WebLink

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What Does the Police Department Need? Each Police Officer has a tape recorder into which he dictates statements and reports. The tapes are produced twenty-fours hours per day and the information on them must be transcribed in a timely manner so it is available for a number of agencies. For example, the County Attorney needs a written statement within 36 hours of an arrest in order to charge someone. Statements dictated on Friday evening should be available early Monday morning, but the Police clerical staff doesn't come on duty until then. The Police Department Secretary transcribes tapes while she responds to visitors at the window, answers phones, and responds to officers' questions and requests. These interruptions can easily double the amount of time needed to complete a transcription. On the surface, it would appear that one solution is to change the schedules of the existing Police clerical staff so they are available to do transcription on weekends. In reality, they already have forty hours of work to do during the week. If they came in on weekends to transcribe tapes, things that need to be done during the week would not get done. (Note: It would be helpful to analyze the changes in the Police Department over the past ten years to better understand the change in clerical work load. We have added six officers, who each represent additional clerical needs, since we last added clerical staff in the department.) Some officers resort to typing their own reports. The disadvantages of this practice are obvious. Officers usually aren't as proficient at processing reports as clerical staff so it takes them longer. Also, an officer's time is more expensive than a clerical person's time. Finally, officers who are in the office typing reports are not out in the community. One solution the Department tried and found quite satisfactory in late 1995, was to contract with someone to transcribe tapes. The person was able to come in after regular clerical staff had gone for the day and use their equipment. She was familar with Police jargon and able to work without interruption. She worked an average of 19 hours per month from mid-August to the end of November. When the contract was discontinued, it was agreed that Administrative Services would provide backup transcription services and when clerical hours were added in 1996, consideration would be given to Police needs. Right now, one person in Administrative Services has been transcribing Police tapes. When she leaves her work station to respond to a customer, her computer screen could be seen, which raises concerns about keeping information confidential. Also, transcription takes longer than necessary because, like the Police Department Secretary, she must stop to answer the phone or wait on people at the counter. The work load from Police is uneven. Because of the unpredictability, she is sometimes caught in a bind. In February, for example, she was trying to lay out the Ramsey Resident, which has a printing deadline. The Police Department needed a number of tapes transcribed promptly. Although the situation was resolved, it was stressful for her trying to meet the competing needs. 4 I I I ! I I i I I I I I I I I I I i