New computer enhancements will reduce mountains of paper and increase crime-fighting efficiency of the Chicago Police Department, at the same time cutting long lines and easing frustration of people seeking permits from the city’s Building Department, Mayor Richard Daley announced Wednesday.
Other upgrades will permit parking violators to pay their tickets via the Internet, while also allowing people living everywhere from Lincoln Park to London to purchase mugs and T-shirts from the city’s Chicago Store over their home PCs.
The most important part of the program will help police do their jobs more effectively, Daley said.
“Right now, when police officers want to search for an offender’s arrest and case reports, they have to do a time-consuming manual search,” he said.
Under the new Criminal History Records Information System, police “will be able to search a computer database and get that information immediately by simply entering the offender’s name or any other identifier.”
Police also will be able to enter such things as physical characteristics of an offender and the type of crime committed to have the computer spit out a list of people with criminal records who fit the data.
Currently, police officers generate 1.4 million paper documents a year, including hand-written crime and arrest reports that then must be entered into the department’s computer system. The upgrade will allow officers to make their reports directly into a computer at the station beginning next year and, eventually, into terminals in their squad cars, officials said.
Efficiencies will save at least $4 million annually and free 160,000 man hours a year, the equivalent of 90 officers a day, from paperwork for duty more directly related to crime-fighting, said police Deputy Supt. John Harris.
Fingerprint matches, instead of taking 30 minutes to complete, will be done in 30 seconds, according to Harris, who appeared with the mayor at a press conference.
The event was the second of three scheduled this week featuring Daley administration management improvements that will have a beneficial impact on the city’s proposed 1998 budget, which will be rolled out early next month.
Homeowners seeking to construct additions and developers who want to build currently must provide four sets of plans and go through a minimum of 12 steps–waiting in line at one desk after another–to obtain a permit from the Buildings Department, said Elizabeth Boatman, the city’s new computer chief.
Under the new system, applicants’ plans will be scanned into a computer, and city electrical, plumbing and other specialists will be able to call them up simultaneously.
The applicant will be contacted when the review process has been completed.
In January, motorists will be able to pay parking fines 24 hours a day via computer by going to the city’s Web site, www.ci.chi.il.us. Calling up an on-line form, they can use credit cards under a secure technology that was employed last summer to buy Taste of Chicago food tickets.
In the future, citizens also may be able to pay water bills, apply for business licenses and permits and submit service requests to City Hall from home, officials said.
Shoppers will be able to browse and buy at the Chicago Store, operated by the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs, by visiting www.chicagostore.com.
In all, the computer upgrades are expected to cost about $4.5 million to $5.5 million, officials said.
