Monday, April 21, 2025
Every police department uses a system that tracks data, arrests and other important information. For the past 10 years, the 77-member Long Beach Police Department has been using a records management system, or RMS, called Impact. Thinking it was time to upgrade, Acting Police Commissioner Richard DePalma and the department have been working for months to implement a new one, which they hope to have up and running by summer.
The entirety of City Hall, police headquarters and the city courts had a power outage on Monday, and as a result, all city workers had to do their work with pen and paper and manually enter it all online afterward. This new system would allow work to still be entered in cases like that.
The new RMS costs $373,900, and has an annual maintenance fee of $175,000 after the first year. It’s expensive, but it also creates potential savings in other areas. The computer system in each of three city police vehicles costs roughly $15,000, and eliminating the need for them would cut expenses by $45,000.
The department also currently uses a system called Passport to help enforce parking tickets, but hopes to integrate parking enforcement into the new system, which would eliminate the revenue share. DePalma said that the department will also save money on server maintenance and in other areas over time.
Herald: What exactly is an RMS system?
DePalma: So, basically, it’s a software suite that houses all the information the Police Department collects. It’s basically the brain of the police department. When I was a young cop, all of the information that we obtained went to a file cabinet. Now this records management system that we’re purchasing is a cloud-based system that can collect all of our information, and we can access it internally at our fingertips when we need it in an instant.
Herald: What is the new system?
DePalma: The system we chose is called 365Labs. We’re the first company in New York state to use them, which is great. They’re with police departments throughout the country, but we’re the first New York state. We looked at a bunch of systems. Sgt. Alexandra Nielsen and Inspector Billy Dodge, they both attend trade shows every year, and they’re both whizzes on technology. They found this system amongst other systems, and we tested this one and a bunch of others. This one, by far, was the most impressive.
The current system we’re on is at its end of life, and so we chose this cloud-based system to go forward. It’s based on the government cloud. It’s the most secure government cloud out there, so all of our information will be very secure. Data security is huge.
Herald: Will the officers require training on the new system?
DePalma: Yes, absolutely. We will have a day reserved to bring the officers in to train on this new system. It’s pretty user-friendly, and it’s a very “current” system, if you will. The younger cops, especially, I think, are going to adapt to it very well.
Herald: When will it be fully implemented?
DePalma: We were hoping before the summer, but it was ambitious. We’re hoping to get there. You have the RMS portion, which is the data. Then you have the CAD portion, our computer-automated dispatch part of it, which is how we dispatch cars to calls, which is pretty much done and ready to go. So then we’ll be moving on to the RMS system, which won’t be as complicated to implement. So we’re hoping to be up and going by the summer.
Herald: How have these systems changed throughout your career?
DePalma: In my career, I went from paper and pen — we’re on a server-based system now, and then this new system is going to be a complete cloud-based system. The first system I was on was very rudimentary, just fill in the blanks. We’ve advanced since then, and we’re advancing even further now. When we had problems like Sandy and power outages, we couldn’t access it. Everything was handwritten, then we had to go back and enter everything in manually afterwards. This new system, as long as you have an internet signal, you can bring it anywhere. You can access it on any computer.
Herald: Will it make the department more efficient?
DePalma: It’s absolutely going to make us more efficient. The officers are going to be able to, basically, operate off of a cellphone or a tablet. They’ll have this whole system in the palm of their hands. The new generation of cops, they grew up with cell phones their whole lives, and this system you can access from a cellphone, you can type a report from a cellphone or tablet, and you can take pictures of evidence. It’s just a great system. I’m excited about it because it’s the future, and having everything in the palm of your hands, I think, is the way to go.
