Policing is challenging on the best of days. The last thing you want to worry about is messing up some paperwork and having a perp walk because of it. You don’t want to leave the wrong wording or note in the wrong place, or you’ll never hear the end of it. Ugh, paperwork, am I right?

The solution to endless paperwork, and its inevitable traps laid to bare by hungry lawyers, is a digital solution. A solution that will help you mitigate paperwork problems, so you can focus on what’s essential – keeping communities safe.

In this guide, I will show you a system built from the ground up with your reporting needs in mind. I will show you how you can reduce problems with paperwork, information accuracy, and even issues in timely communications. Please stick with me. You’ll want to learn about it – we’re helping transform precinct paperwork worldwide. It’s time for you to learn how. Let’s get started.

The Limitations of Paper-Based Reporting in Policing

Paperwork is tedious. I don’t need to be an officer of the law to know that. I can’t think of anyone I’ve ever met who enjoyed doing paperwork. Furthermore, according to active duty officer N.C.Barry, on Reddit, 90% of his job is paperwork, and only 10% of his career is what he calls ‘action’.

Barry says that he has to take an infamous amount of notes, depending on the circumstances. At the very least, he takes notes of each situation’s five W’s (Who, What, Where, When, hoW). He notes that finding out ‘why’ is usually more tedious than merely taking observations or statements.

When Barry drives through a neighborhood, he notes it. When he stops at an accident, he records everything. There are reports, follow-up reports, and as he puts it, it goes “on… and on… and on…”.

Considering what Barry says, let’s now consider the cost of the paperwork inefficiencies. If an officer has to note every moment of their day in detail, and 90% of their job is said paperwork, dare I will be the one to say it sounds pretty inefficient? Not to mention the cost of labor for the officer’s time to take notes. Indeed, there must be a more efficient means of dealing with all this paperwork.

There are other problems that paperwork presents, as any lawyer is happy to point out.

Inaccuracy and Human Error 

No one likes to admit when they make a mistake. But when it happens on paperwork, you know someone’s ‘going to walk.’ Lawyers love mistakes on paper, and as you know, police aren’t overly fond of paperwork mistakes.

The problem with taking notes is that the notes are only as expressive and explanatory as the words used. Therefore, if a police officer is not well-read, their notes might not fully encapsulate the situation. Nor will the notes do anything but add chaos to a situation that cries for order.

No Collaborative Capabilities

One of my biggest ‘pet peeves’ of paperwork is its lack of collaborative ability. Maybe I’m spoiled by technology, but I like it when I fill out a report, which shifts to the next stakeholder who can make notes on the same report. And they don’t have to erase my notes to make room, either. 

Considering that paperwork is not collaborative-friendly, I say we put the 3,000-year-old invention to rest.

Storage and Retrieval

One of the biggest challenges to managing physical paperwork relates to its storage. Why else would there be a need for ‘records’? Many departments have full-time staff whose sole purpose is the management of records.

In the age of technology and information, it seems prehistoric to have a person managing papers, doesn’t it? Don’t take this the wrong way, I don’t want anyone to lose their jobs, but if we could have a better means of storing and retrieving data, wouldn’t that help everyone in the long run? You be the judge.

Consider this: if I were to ask you to retrieve a file from records or if I were to merely open a file on my computer, which would be the more efficient operation?

The Advantages of Implementing Digital Forms in Policing

There are many good reasons to consider implementing a digital reporting platform into your precinct. However, let’s look at three of the most prominent reasons why adopting technology rather than denying it makes sense.

Streamlined Data Collection and Reporting

If police officer spends 90 % of their time doing paperwork, imagine we could reduce that by a mere 20 %. I think it’s more than possible. It’s well within grasp.

Digital forms do many things, that paper-based reporting systems fall flat. First, let’s consider forced field entry. That is to say, a form field that will hold you captive until you complete the field. At first thought, you might wonder what good that would do. But give it a moment to sink in. Have you ever forgotten a form field? With digital systems like 1st Reporting, you can literally remove the possibility of missing a form field, forever.

Further to streamlining paperwork, digital forms also reduce manual efforts. They are fast to complete and can include forms of data that are impossible on paper. For example, 1st Reporting lets you add pictures, video, and audio files to a report. I’d like to see a paper report that can do that.

Further to the included media, one of the other great advantages of a digital reporting platform like 1st Reporting comes from the ability it provides for your team to complete forms in real time. No more completing it when they get back to the office. With mobile form completion and management, 1st Reporting can help your team complete the paperwork on-site.

Enhanced Collaboration and Data Sharing

Collaboration is essential for officers working together for a common objective. With digital reporting platforms, the appropriate stakeholders can be assigned to a specific report, allowing for the right people to have access to updating data accordingly. And with the digital trail, you know who made what changes or revisions and when. Full accountability on a secure cloud-based platform. 

Digital form creation is also significant due to the coordination of communication it offers. Let me explain, take 1st Reporting’s automated and customizable notifications. You can set a notification so the suitable supervisor receives a message when a report of the specified type is completed in the field. So, an officer might complete a report at a traffic accident scene, and a supervisor could receive a notification and review the report before the officer leaves the scene. It allows for easier management of junior officers.

Improved Data Security and Compliance

Paper is only as secure as the location in which it resides. In other words, anyone can read a piece of paper. That doesn’t offer much peace of mind regarding data security.

Digital reporting solutions like 1st Reporting offer superior encryption and information storage and transfer security. No one can grab a report and read it unless sufficiently authorized. Now that’s information security at its finest.

Speaking of how digital reporting is better than paperwork, let’s consider compliance. You know as well as I do that hungry lawyers are ‘chomping at the bit’ hoping you mess up your paperwork. How do we take control of compliance to ensure perfect paperwork every time? With a digital reporting solution, that’s how. 

Digital reporting solutions mean that if a form requires a change, it’s instantly disseminated to your team. Never again will an officer use ‘an old, outdated form.’ Not with a digital solution like 1st Reporting.

Spotlight on 1st Reporting – A Secure Platform for Mobile Reporting

By now, you likely have a pretty good idea of what I’m talking about – replacing outdated paperwork practices with a modern reporting solution that establishes standardized efficiencies in a job polluted by paperwork practices of old.

1st Reporting is a digital application, a solution for modern policing, security, and other professional services that tend to complete reports, forms, and other paperwork in the field. We offer a digital, secure, and collaborative approach to paperwork that is taking industry, municipalities, utilities, and security and police services by storm.

1st Reporting is as significant as adding the taser to police equipment. It’s the technology you have waited for, for the many hours you’ve been stuck filing paperwork.

Here are a few key features you’ll want to test with the 1st Reporting platform.

• A Robust and Customizable GPS-Integrated Reporting Dashboard
• Easy-To-Use Form Customization and Builder
• Integrated Template Library
• Automated and Customizable Notifications
• Dynamic Form Linking

A Robust and Customizable GPS-Integrated Reporting Dashboard

Having a filing cabinet to dig through to find a report is one thing. It’s another thing to have a convenient user interface with a customizable map view that shows all completed reports in the selected area. You can filter by report type, location, and more. Again we see how a filing cabinet and paper are just an archaic reminder of times best left to the halls of history.

Easy-To-Use Form Customization and Builder

Every police department is unique. You want customized solutions, and we deliver here at 1st Reporting. Our robust application lets administrators create custom reports and disseminate them to the selected groups of officers. It’s great because you can create traffic stop reports for traffic duties, vandalism reports for their purpose, etc. Furthermore, you can select groups of your officers, so you can separate forms by division, group, or any means you wish to organize your officers into groups of users.

Integrated Template Library

Any reporting solution is going to need multiple forms for multiple scenarios. Luckily, the application has all kinds of pre-built forms, reports, and checklists. They are available for your selected users or customizable to make them work for your precinct or division in particular.

Automated and Customizable Notifications

I mentioned earlier how convenient it is to notify the sergeant or commander instantly when one of their officers completes a form in the field. Sure, they can jump on the radio or phone and let you or dispatch know they completed a report of this or that. But imagine that their report completion triggers automation to send an appropriate notification to the pre-selected person. It’s automating the small communications and doing it in real-time, faster than your officers can get on a radio or phone. Now, that’s efficient.

Dynamic Form Linking

When you complete a report, someone else might follow up or add to said report. At the least, you may need to complete a follow-up report. The filing cabinet can’t compete with a digital platform like 1st Reporting. With our platform, you can dynamically link reports, so all who need to collaborate can easily do so. And no one needs to dig for some file in some records vault in the basement. No, now you can open a report on the 1st app and get all the information you need to complete your follow-up report.

Easy Implementation

One of the best things about 1st Reporting is the team. Our team is dedicated to making solutions a reality for our users. So, implementing the 1st Reporting app is easy with the help of our reporting professionals. We can help you understand how to implement the platform into your existing system best and say goodbye to wasting time with paper reports.

The Path Forward: Adopting Digital Forms in Policing and Security

One of the key advantages of incorporating a digital reporting system into police or security operations is scalability and integration. Our platform already works on computers, laptops, and mobile devices operating Android or iOS platforms, and it integrates with Microsoft Teams® as well. Our developers work hard to ensure that our platform has the useability and integration capabilities that you need.

In terms of scalability, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that disseminating a digital form to your squad compared to printing paper forms and waiting for everyone to get back to base camp is much more manageable. Furthermore, when reports require amendment, again with a digital report, disseminating the revised report template is instant. Compare instant dissemination with what happens when a paper report requires a template change, and you can see instantly how beneficial a reporting platform like 1st Reporting truly is.

Harnessing the power of a scalable and integrated platform like 1st Reporting ensures that the future of your documentation is rooted in a firm, mobile, and secure solution designed to correct the problems inherent in paper-based reporting.

Switching to digital forms has never been easier. Set up your trial account now and test the platform to discover the transformative power of digital reporting solutions in your precinct. The future of police reporting is here, and it’s 1st Reporting.