During a work session prior to the May 21 City Council meeting, Rollins, who was hired in December, detailed his plans to implement a new record management system during a crime statistic discussion.
The gist
Rollins said the crime statistics on the department’s webpage are "very antiquated," and he would like to revise and update them to make them more actionable.
“I found that our staff is not always generally aware of what's happening with crime in the city and why we want to respond the way that we respond,” he said. “If that's the case, then the public is probably not also able to review that crime data for themselves and make decisions about their neighborhoods.”
The Lewisville Police Department's new record management system will be online by this summer, he said.
Rollins added the system will help police respond to crimes and trends by telling them where to go and what to look for within the data gathered.
Zooming in
The police department will have two dashboards available, one for in-house use and one for the public’s use, Rollins said. The system will show all of the crimes and when they occurred, which can help officers hone in on areas that need extra patrol, Rollins said.
The public version of the database will have crimes entered in a database after reports are filed, so Rollins said some of the crime information could be up to a week old, but it would be more up to date than the current data points.
“The public can access it straight from our website, with no needed login ... [to] see what's happening in their area and actually use that for conversation with the police department,” Rollins said.
The details
Rollins said by overhauling the monthly reports, the new format will display a clear data set that is compiled by the department’s crime analyst.
He added the data points will look at long-term issues and "acute issues" in the community. It will also allow the department to look at crimes against persons and property as well as geographic regions in town. Viewing the data will help empower officers to make decisions about their duties on each shift, Rollins said.
