The investigative features that have been bolted onto some RMS systems have proven to be a bit lackluster for demanding case management tasks. Instead, many investigative units within law enforcement agencies are still using paper case folders or home-grown systems for their important case management work and are unable to adhere to best practices.

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More and more RMS providers claim new features and functionality, including case management. But agencies are challenged with managing their sensitive narcotics operations, homicide cases, & managing intelligence or confidential informant records in their RMS.

Law enforcement software that offers both RMS integration and robust case management capabilities can help you improve incident reporting, clearance rates, community relationships and overall public safety.

No matter how big or small your department, case management software can help solve a lot of common issues by making all relevant case information accessible to everyone who needs to see it while securing it from those who don’t. Whether you have criminal cases, excessive force investigations, internal affairs, gang incidents, or intelligence needs, today’s modern software solutions can help law enforcement keep pace with the world around them.

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Over time, paper-based systems became unmanageable even for the smallest law enforcement agencies. In today’s day and age, it’s impossible to maintain compliant incident report systems without some sort of electronic RMS.

Law enforcement agencies must record incidents to be aware of what’s going on in their jurisdiction. They can use these records to inform strategies for follow-up and to fight specific types or patterns of crime. Citizens need these reports for legal documentation and to refer to insurance companies. But the real necessity is that law enforcement agencies are required to report crime up the chain, from the local level to the county, state, and national level—and from that, crime rates and trends can be derived.  Many agencies also have embraced an “Open-Data” policy within their communities. Exposing minor and major crime data to their constituents is critical to these initiatives.Accessibility to a holistic view of all criminal activity encourages community and law enforcement partnership and trust building.

A Case Management System (CMS) and a Law Records Management System (RMS) serve distinct purposes within law enforcement agencies (these include Police departments, Sheriff offices, State Police, Department of Public Safety, specialized Investigative units, and more), and one is not necessarily “better” than the other; rather, they complement each other in managing different aspects of law enforcement work. Many providers do this well. But when those incidents evolve into major cases or include serious and violent crimes, the extent of an RMS’ functionality may not meet the needs of the investigative unit, and you may be losing key functionality when it comes to your investigations.

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Investigators and Detectives, and particularly those investigating major crimes, have an inherent desire to solve cases no matter what. Because of this dedication, they have adopted a mentality of improvise, adapt and overcome. So, when they are handed an RMS system that claims to provide CMS-like features but doesn’t meet their needs, they don’t stop investigating, they just find a workaround. In most cases, this means they go back to what worked before—like a paper-based system. This speaks to a key procurement challenge in the public sector: Law enforcement agencies have to stick to a budget. Once they purchase a system, they can’t switch to something else on the fly if they don’t like what was provided or if the features for case management don’t meet their investigator’s needs.

Law records management systems simply do not offer the robust case management features that are required to manage the full lifecycle of an incident, once the initial report has been submitted to the case being courtroom-ready.

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In the past, many agencies did all of this on paper. They kept ledgers with incident numbers and dates, counting incidents throughout the year and using this record to create reports and track crime.

[ShotSpotter] is a game changer in lives saved, evidence collected, guns off the streets, and cases solved. I’m glad we have ShotSpotter in our community. More importantly our community loves this system and what it does for us.”

Law records management systems and case management software are different by definition and functionality. RMS gets a bad rap when it comes to case management, but it’s not supposed to be case management. Because of this, many agencies assume they have no other options. But this is far from the truth.

From this definition, you can see that RMS is primarily about reporting functionality. This isn’t a bad thing – reporting is critical for several reasons.

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The problem is that since they were originally invented, these electronic law records management systems have barely changed. In fact, some of the original systems that were adopted by law enforcement agencies have only been updated when it was mandated due to changes in data submission requirements of the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). Even today, although there have been some improvements in data collection, the functionality remains the same in many legacy systems.

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Case management software provides the tools law enforcement needs to run a modern investigative unit and resolve cases efficiently.

Each system has its own set of functionalities that make it more suitable for specific tasks. Here are some reasons why a Case Management System is often considered more advantageous when complex incidents have occurred:

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With CaseBuilder™, you can capture and report on incidents, manage investigations, and support all the other functions you need to manage day-to-day. As a result, your clearance rates and crime statistics will improve.

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Law enforcement agencies with case management have a much better clearance rate than those without. This is because a lack of case management software leads to huge inefficiencies. So, there is no clear and verifiable way to track case progress and to quickly see what investigative steps have been completed versus what still needs to get done to clear a case.

The difference between RMS and Case management software is clear. So why haven’t more law enforcement agencies made the move to case management software?

The incident comes first. RMS allows you to record and report on them. But case management is about the next steps that have to be taken. Following up and balancing caseloads. Reviewing and clearing cases. Collaborating and running down leads. Staying in compliance throughout the process. This is what RMS systems are missing.

“An agency-wide system that provides for the storage, retrieval, retention, manipulation, archiving and viewing of information, records, documents or files pertaining to law enforcement operations. RMS covers the entire life span of records development—from the initial generation to its completion. An effective RMS allows single entry of data, while supporting multiple reporting mechanisms.”

SafePointe was exactly what I was looking for: not only because it’s cost-effective, but also because of the flow through.”

Case in point: In a 2023 analysis by the Police Executive Research Forum of over 30 years of investigation and clearance rates for the largest 100 law enforcement agencies in the United States, highly performing agencies in the study implemented several key processes: