Preparing for some training during the incoming week I spent a good part of the weekend reading through a litany of public inquires into allegations of police incompetence and wrongdoing. One of the common failings was the lack of systems and processes, another was individual’s keeping information in isolation. While fixing systems and processes can take a lot of effort technology can go a long way to integrating information within an agency. One solution is digitising officers’ notebooks and journals.

These are a ten of the ways digital notebooks can help an agency better integrate the information stored by individual officers.

1.       Security. Officers’ notebooks contain sensitive details including the names and addresses of victims and witnesses. If an officer loses their notebook these details are exposed to ever happens to find the notebook leading to a loss of public confidence.

2.       Searchable. With a paper notebook what is in the notebook stays in it, of use, all but exclusively, to the officer who owns it.  When an agency chooses to provide its officers with a digital solution, the content of each notebook becomes a resource for the entire agency. Every entry can be searched to provide information to other officers, to create intelligence and to highlight previously hidden problems.

3.       Cost savings.  The cost of physically storing paper notebooks over a prolonged period can be extensive. Retrieving notebooks from storage for court purposes, adds to the cost. Even for the individual officer finding a specific entry in a paper notebook can be time consuming. Finding material for a public enquiry into events occurring many years previously can be financially crippling and a logistical nightmare.

4.       Collation. A digital notebook facilitates more than just notes. The officer can record audio, take statements, and add photos to an entry making the gathering of evidence significantly easier. This can help explain their decision making if called upon to do so later.

5.       Interconnectivity. With an open API, digital notebooks can easily be connected to the agency's record management or case management system Easy data transfer ensures that records from disparate sources are more easily kept together.

6.       Evidential value. Entries in a digital notebook can be automatically date and time stamped with a full audit trail ensuring that officers can prove the provenance of the content.

7.       Corruption mitigation. Unfortunately, there is always a risk of officers trying to amend entries to cover up omissions or wrong doings. Alternatively, they ‘lose’ their notebook because they are concerned about the content. Digital notebooks mitigate corruption risks. Of as much importance, is that they can help officers refute allegations of wrongdoing.

8.       Entry compartmentalisation. Digital notebooks allow for the compartmentalisation of entries with the ability to restrict who can see what. For example, entries relating to disclosure can be marked at time of entry. Similarly, with entries relating to sensitive information.  Additionally, if an officer is having a bullying problem with a supervisor, entries can be marked that exclude such an entry from the supervisor enabling the officer to keep an official record of it.

9.       Functionality. Additional functionality is easy. Features such as the transcription of audio recordings, voice to text, language translation are all easily added to the solution.

10.   Specialised deployment. Digital notebooks can be deployed to assist in specialised operations of law enforcement, including undercover deployments and managing informants.  While the how may be best left for a less open forum anything that ensures maximising the amount of information gained and increasing integrity will be a welcome addition for any Chief.