Windsor Police Department

Paper Overload

Paper Overload

For this case study, we chose to interview Lieutenant William Freemen who is in charge of the Windsor Police Department. He began using AUTOsist for his fleet maintenance and management needs in 2017.

Windsor Police Department is comprised of approximately 65 employees; 52 sworn officers and 10 civilians and dispatchers. The community it serves is nearly 30 square miles with a population of 28,500 citizens. The department began using AUTOsist to improve fleet maintenance and management in 2017.

“Filing cabinets with tons of papers in them” is how William Freeman, the lieutenant of the Windsor Police Department described their organization before adopting AUTOsist.

Windsor Police Department did not have a strategic way of keeping its fleet information organized. Their paperwork was simply put away in filing cabinets with no real method of organization. The only person who may have had any knowledge of where to find the documents without having to sort through piles of files in all the cabinets was the Sergeant. The Sergeant was not only responsible for maintaining the paperwork of the department’s vehicles, but also to do manual inspection checks.

In addition, the department had physical hard copy pieces of paper that the officers would have to fill out to report any service requests and place it in a basket. This basket would overflow. Unless the officer was persistent, the service request would almost never be seen or addressed. The officers simply just did not have sufficient time in a day to sort through the basket and complete the services requested.

For this case study, we chose to interview Lieutenant William Freemen who is in charge of the Windsor Police Department. He began using AUTOsist for his fleet maintenance and management needs in 2017.

Windsor Police Department is comprised of approximately 65 employees; 52 sworn officers and 10 civilians and dispatchers. The community it serves is nearly 30 square miles with a population of 28,500 citizens. The department began using AUTOsist to improve fleet maintenance and management in 2017.

“Filing cabinets with tons of papers in them” is how William Freeman, the lieutenant of the Windsor Police Department described their organization before adopting AUTOsist.

Windsor Police Department did not have a strategic way of keeping its fleet information organized. Their paperwork was simply put away in filing cabinets with no real method of organization. The only person who may have had any knowledge of where to find the documents without having to sort through piles of files in all the cabinets was the Sergeant. The Sergeant was not only responsible for maintaining the paperwork of the department’s vehicles, but also to do manual inspection checks.

In addition, the department had physical hard copy pieces of paper that the officers would have to fill out to report any service requests and place it in a basket. This basket would overflow. Unless the officer was persistent, the service request would almost never be seen or addressed. The officers simply just did not have sufficient time in a day to sort through the basket and complete the services requested.

"Typically, unless someone came and reported a problem caused from the lack of service, the issue would not be addressed at all. "
— Lieutenant Freeman

"Typically, unless someone came and reported a problem caused from the lack of service, the issue would not be addressed at all. "
— Lieutenant Freeman

Too Many Inefficiencies

Too Many Inefficiencies

Merely gathering information for oil changes required tedious manual labor. The simple task of updating the mileage of vehicles would require the Sergeant to take a few hours out of his week to physically walk over to each car and check its mileage. This information would be noted onto some document, which would get piled away in the filing cabinet.

To explain this in simple math, the Sergeant was on a supervisor’s salary and his responsibilities are very important in law enforcement. For the Sergeant to have to go out and manually look at every vehicle to update its information was not only time consuming, but also very costly for the department. As the patrol supervisor, there are far more important things that the Sergeant could have been doing with that time.

Merely gathering information for oil changes required tedious manual labor. The simple task of updating the mileage of vehicles would require the Sergeant to take a few hours out of his week to physically walk over to each car and check its mileage. This information would be noted onto some document, which would get piled away in the filing cabinet.

To explain this in simple math, the Sergeant was on a supervisor’s salary and his responsibilities are very important in law enforcement. For the Sergeant to have to go out and manually look at every vehicle to update its information was not only time consuming, but also very costly for the department. As the patrol supervisor, there are far more important things that the Sergeant could have been doing with that time.

"The Sergeant’s time is valuable, they have their regular patrol function, and this would be on top of their patrol function."
— Lieutenant Freeman

"The Sergeant’s time is valuable, they have their regular patrol function, and this would be on top of their patrol function."
— Lieutenant Freeman

Saving Time and Operating Safely

Saving Time and Operating Safely

Since implementing AUTOsist, the Windsor Police department has seen a significant improvement in organization and time efficiency. The sergeant no longer has to manually diagnose where a particular work order or copy of accident report was recorded.

Law enforcement’s valuable time is being used towards actually enforcing law. Instead of having one personal manually check each vehicle and their mileage and report which are due for maintenance such as oil changes, the officers themselves are now updating the data as they’re using their patrol vehicles..

Since implementing AUTOsist, the Windsor Police department has seen a significant improvement in organization and time efficiency. The sergeant no longer has to manually diagnose where a particular work order or copy of accident report was recorded.

Law enforcement’s valuable time is being used towards actually enforcing law. Instead of having one personal manually check each vehicle and their mileage and report which are due for maintenance such as oil changes, the officers themselves are now updating the data as they’re using their patrol vehicles..

"With AUTOsist, officers can record fuel fill ups and complete vehicle inspections where they can input their mileage which feeds the system to see what cars are due for maintenance such as an oil change.”
— Lieutenant Freeman

"With AUTOsist, officers can record fuel fill ups and complete vehicle inspections where they can input their mileage which feeds the system to see what cars are due for maintenance such as an oil change.”
— Lieutenant Freeman

Using AUTOsist has helped Windsor Police Department not only stay more organized but it has also been a very important tool in safety. Now, even something as small as a spot light repair will be taken care of right away because AUTOsist sends instant feedback and alerts that inform the Lieutenant of necessary repair requests. Although some requests can wait a few days, AUTOsist’s instant alert feature helps officers put priority on repairs most necessary for safety. Officers’ duties are already risky, therefore, making sure that their patrol vehicles are up to date is absolutely imperative.

When a service is completed on a vehicle, the dealership sends the department PDFs of the services. These repair orders are attached to the vehicle. Having a consolidated, complete, and up to date data of all repairs, services, and inspections completed on a vehicle helps the department with end of year budgets. When Windsor Police Department completes its yearly budget request, it uses the information saved on AUTOsist to show how much revenue the department needs for repairs and fleet maintenance. This way there are no lost substantive information and therefore, no guessing.

Using AUTOsist has helped Windsor Police Department not only stay more organized but it has also been a very important tool in safety. Now, even something as small as a spot light repair will be taken care of right away because AUTOsist sends instant feedback and alerts that inform the Lieutenant of necessary repair requests. Although some requests can wait a few days, AUTOsist’s instant alert feature helps officers put priority on repairs most necessary for safety. Officers’ duties are already risky, therefore, making sure that their patrol vehicles are up to date is absolutely imperative.

When a service is completed on a vehicle, the dealership sends the department PDFs of the services. These repair orders are attached to the vehicle. Having a consolidated, complete, and up to date data of all repairs, services, and inspections completed on a vehicle helps the department with end of year budgets. When Windsor Police Department completes its yearly budget request, it uses the information saved on AUTOsist to show how much revenue the department needs for repairs and fleet maintenance. This way there are no lost substantive information and therefore, no guessing.