PORTLAND — The city of Portland will be left out of the FBI’s 2015 crime report following problems with the new record-keeping software used by local law enforcement.
Portland and more than 40 surrounding communities began using the $12.6 million computer system in April 2015, but weren’t able to share the data they collected, reported The Oregonian/Oregon Live.
The FBI’s crime report is the most authoritative source for crime statistics in America and is used by grant writers, homebuyers and researchers. The report’s data is often cited to show crime trends or compare crime rates across cities.
Portland Police Bureau’s Kim Roark said administrators are applying for a grant to cover two full-time employees and a payment to software vendor, Versaterm, to fix the current issues.
County sheriff, 5 local police agencies leave regional system
Last spring, the Clark County Sheriff’s Office and the Vancouver Police Department started using the Versaterm software when they joined a regional records management system, called RegJIN, that allowed the local agencies access to cases from 40 other police agencies.
After numerous problems with the software, the sheriff’s office started looking for alternatives and finalized a contract in April with Executive Information Systems, or EIS, which is building the agency’s jail management system.
Police agencies in Ridgefield, Washougal, Battle Ground and Camas have also left the RegJIN system and are switching to EIS.La Center left RegJIN after one month and went back to its former software, RIMS, according to Alice Peters at the police department.
The Vancouver Police Department, however, chose to continue to use the software. Chief James McElvain said that it is too soon to know if the software will work for the agency long-term.
— Emily Gillespie
Difficulties customizing
Portland chose software that is supposed to fit the newest FBI standard, which is different than the elaborate system used by Oregon State Police. Roark said the difficulties arose when Portland tried to customize the database to fit Oregon’s system.
It’s frustrating that the region could not report its crime data, said Melaney Koch, the records manager for Washington County Sheriff’s Office and a member of the board that oversees the new regional records system.
“Reporting is what makes us accountable,” she said. “It’s like closing the loop and showing what we did.”
Portland and other agencies using the new computer system must fix the problem by February to be included in the FBI’s 2016 report.
