Idaho Police Agencies Seek More Digital Space
June 07--In an aim to go paperless, Lewiston and Nez Perce County cops are making a plea for extra digital space.
Lewiston police officers and Nez Perce County deputies have run up against data storage constraints of late as more and more photos, audio files and video clips collected as evidence are uploaded to their shared servers.
Local cops have been telling the city council and county commission the system can last for about another year to 16 months without the extra space, though the extra information is going to bog down operating speeds as the servers fill up.
The additional space will come with a $60,000 price tag to be split mostly by the city and the county, though Sheriff Dale Buttrey and the Lewiston Police Department are set to ask the joint 911 powers board that administers the 911 system with money from phone bills to chip in as well.
Known by the brand name Spillman, the law enforcement computers have for years served as the database and records-keeping system of the two departments.
"Spillman, like any computer, is getting full, and that's what the upgrades are for," Buttrey told the county commissioners Wednesday.
The space used has spiked in the past few years as more and more data has been collected digitally, Lewiston Police Capt. Roger Lanier said. The police department has used the data storage as a replacement for paper and file cabinets.
Uploads of audio files, photographs and video to the database of written reports and other information have added to the storage space issues. The police department and sheriff's office have been adding six to 12 gigabytes per month as the servers have been used more and more.
Spillman administrator Teresa Cash said the system does not include video from in-car cameras officers run while they are on patrol, which is kept on a separate server because of space constraints.
The immediate change wouldn't necessarily be an upgrade, Cash said, but would add 16 300-gigabyte drives to the existing data storage system. It would, however, provide enough space when the system requires an upgrade.
"It is definitely a critical portion of our operation," Lanier said. "It is the central portion of our operation in terms of how we manage records and information."
The county commissioners are considering the upgrade as part of budget discussions. Lewiston Administrative Services Director Daniel Marsh said he expects the upgrade to go before the city council for consideration later this month.
Gary may be contacted at [email protected] or (208) 848-2262. Follow him on
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Copyright 2012 - Lewiston Tribune, Idaho