NYPD ditching paper patrol logs for iPhone app
On February 17, the New York Police Department will retire the tradition of handwritten memo books in favor of documenting a patrol on a custom iPhone app.
The memo books, used for over a century, were handwritten by officers. An officer would keep records of patrols, arrests, victim and witness statements, and even an officer's lunch breaks. According to the New York Times, The NYPD is making the switch in order to better organize and subsequently access logged information.
By switching to a digital version, the department will be able to easily search entries by date or keyword, rather than searching through physical books. It also means an officer does not need to relinquish their memo book when the information is needed, saving both time, travel, and effort.
"It gives us the abilities we did not have before, when memo books were left in officers' lockers and we didn't have access to a vast amount of information," Deputy Chief Anthony Tasso said.
The new digital memo books will be stored within the officers' iPhones, of which NYPD owns about 37,000. The NYPD began using iPhones in 2015 and quickly found them to be a boon in their daily lives. Officers can quickly search department databases instead of waiting for radio dispatchers to relay important information.
The new app, developed by the department, has received input from NYPD police officers. It gives officers fields to enter details about patrol shifts, their vehicles, 911 responses, and other information.
The app will offset a lot of problems that handwritten memo books present, such as inconsistent entry styles and illegible handwriting. It also prevents old abuses, such as officers leaving space to add entries retroactively.
It allows the department to collect something Chief Tasso calls "clean data." Additionally, the app will allow officers to upload important photos, which, when tethered with entries into the app, can give a more holistic view of the situations recorded.
Even though many officers and department heads see the shift as a good thing, many officers aren't quite ready for the change.
"There's a lot of nostalgia to keeping these logs," said Officer Michael Ignatz, a 14-year veteran at the 90th Precinct. "I'm a pen and paper guy, so it's a big change. For the younger guys, it's an easier transition."
The memo books, used for over a century, were handwritten by officers. An officer would keep records of patrols, arrests, victim and witness statements, and even an officer's lunch breaks. According to the New York Times, The NYPD is making the switch in order to better organize and subsequently access logged information.
By switching to a digital version, the department will be able to easily search entries by date or keyword, rather than searching through physical books. It also means an officer does not need to relinquish their memo book when the information is needed, saving both time, travel, and effort.
"It gives us the abilities we did not have before, when memo books were left in officers' lockers and we didn't have access to a vast amount of information," Deputy Chief Anthony Tasso said.
The new digital memo books will be stored within the officers' iPhones, of which NYPD owns about 37,000. The NYPD began using iPhones in 2015 and quickly found them to be a boon in their daily lives. Officers can quickly search department databases instead of waiting for radio dispatchers to relay important information.
The new app, developed by the department, has received input from NYPD police officers. It gives officers fields to enter details about patrol shifts, their vehicles, 911 responses, and other information.
The app will offset a lot of problems that handwritten memo books present, such as inconsistent entry styles and illegible handwriting. It also prevents old abuses, such as officers leaving space to add entries retroactively.
It allows the department to collect something Chief Tasso calls "clean data." Additionally, the app will allow officers to upload important photos, which, when tethered with entries into the app, can give a more holistic view of the situations recorded.
Even though many officers and department heads see the shift as a good thing, many officers aren't quite ready for the change.
"There's a lot of nostalgia to keeping these logs," said Officer Michael Ignatz, a 14-year veteran at the 90th Precinct. "I'm a pen and paper guy, so it's a big change. For the younger guys, it's an easier transition."
Comments
I still have a stack of my old memo books. Once in awhile, when I am cleaning out my closet I take a peek at a few pages, it’s brings back tons of memories of where, when, and what I was doing on a particular day.
There are plenty of mundane, routine day to day activities but mixed in between them are noteworthy events/cases that were headline news, including 911.
After my father passed, I discovered a stack of his old memo books, they were from the mid 1950’s through to the mid 1990’s.
I can understand why the department is moving towards a digital memo book, and the potential benefits. I still wonder if the cops will be able to get a complete copy of their memo book to keep upon discontinuance of service.
One very important reason you did and should keep your memo books, was for use in accurate recall of the events that you recorded that day for court testimony. It’s not unheard for cops to get subpoenas for cases that are sometimes 10 years old. These court appearance requests can come way after an officer’s retirement date.
Of course the Department could now furnish you with a copy of your memo book activities on request, but from my experience, such a request may be easily denied, or delayed, because the release of the memo books might cause potential embarrassment, be part of an ongoing case, or they are not legally compelled to produce said documents.
My other concern would be the misuse or alteration of digital records. With a handwritten document, an officer can look at their handwritten notes, and swear that they wrote it, whether it was yesterday or 30 years in the past.
The memo books contained had a single sided lined area for official recording of the officers day. On the back of those pages was a blank sheet, which was often used for recording contemporaneous statements, facts, 911 transmission, diagrams and other observations. The combination of these notes and the official memo book entry often provided a complete overview of events.
District Attorneys always photocopied both the blank page & lined pages surrounding an event when processing a criminal complaint in court. These notes were known as “Rosario” Material - and by law - everything recorded by the police about a subject had to be furnished to the defense, subject to restrictions.
What mechanism is in place to ensure the same confidence of continuity that handwritten notes provide vs a digital copy? Where are those hand written notes? Something that is quickly handwritten in the heat of the moment may now be avoided because is frustratingly done with a smart device. This is not to say that use of body cams and smart devices can’t record audio and video of an event, but its already quite difficult to get people to talk openly to the police.
Sometimes you could only obtain witness information by pulling someone aside in a crowd and speak confidentially with them. That same person now would completely avoid the police knowing that there is a chance for their digitally recorded conversation to be publicly released.
Just this week in NY, a witness to a MS13 related homicide was found murdered himself shortly after his identity and address was furnished to the defense due to newly enacted NYS Bail Reform and Discovery Rules.
If an officer was furnished with a fresh printout of their 20 years old memo book right before testifying, I can’t think of any method how one can swear with 100% confidence the words contained in that copy contain the same exact facts, words, punctuation, diagrams, composed 20 years prior other then keeping a screenshot after making said entry.
Another concern is the access of too much information by too many individuals. When working on big cases, the flow of information was very compartmentalized. The case details were kept amongst a very few individuals.
Access to confidential records & electronic databases, has always been closely monitored for improper access and use by by law enforcement agencies and is severely punished when discovered. Unfortunately the improper access does happen, and DMV and accident databases are probably the most well known records abused.
Having access to patrol duties can open up a can or worms. Internally, the data can be used to understand how to efficiently deploy personal, aid in training, get up to date information. On the other hand, the same information could be provided to bad actors to gain an understanding on deployment and how often somewhere is patrolled.
Time will tell how it will work out.
THIS IS AN OFFICIAL COPY - UNLESS CHANGED BY THE EDITORS -