About seven years ago, SmartCOP approached the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency headquartered in Nashville, TN, to see if they were looking to purchase new Public Safety Software. At the time, their commissioners were already examining ways to improve their Dispatch system, so they investigated the SmartCAD product. TN Wildlife also reviewed three other Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) systems, but they kept coming back to SmartCAD, finally selecting SmartCOP’s CAD as the solution of choice!
SmartCOP worked directly with Captain Todd Allen in the Boating & Law Enforcement Division on implementing SmartCAD, SmartRMS, and SmartMOBILE software for their agency. While it took some time to get all the data migrated into the new system, SmartCOP’s dedicated team was able to walk Captain Allen through every step of the process and work with TN Wildlife to create some custom processes and forms to make their lives a little easier.
Since implementing SmartCOP’s software, Captain Allen has seen a steady increase in the number of electronic citations and warnings versus paper citations and warnings issued by officers and an increase in the number of CAD calls completed. TN Wildlife especially loves that all the data can be recovered and reported in real-time. This means that if a judge revokes someone’s hunting or fishing license and that person tries to hunt or fish again that day, if stopped, an officer can immediately see if their license was revoked and take immediate action.
Reporting is another function that has a huge time savings impact with real-time data. Supervisors no longer wait until the end of the month or fiscal year for data to be entered into their system. Now, they run reports at any time and know the information is accurate and up to date. For example, after a holiday weekend, Supervisors can easily run reports to know how many citations were issued, the location of citations issued, and update staffing needs and location plans immediately for upcoming weekends or events.
Officers appreciate the ability to access the NCIC database when they run tag information in the field. They can quickly and easily import this data directly into their SmartMOBILE forms reducing the time it typically took them to complete this task. Also, the Master Name Index feature helps officers check prior offenses on the spot when making stops and writing citations.
Some custom features SmartCOP provided to TN Wildlife include a Big Game Damage Permit and Revoked Privileges. With the Big Game Damage Permits, landowners can report the number of big game animals taken under the authority of the Damage Permits. Previously, they had to complete a paper form, which the landowners frequently overlooked. The Revoked Privileges is a repurposing of the Trespass Warning that allows the real-time entry of revoked licenses that is connected to SmartRMS and SmartMOBILE. This allows information to pass directly into the officer’s hands, who need it in the field.
There have been many benefits that the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency have seen since implementing SmartCOP’s Public Safety Software, but the centralized database has had the greatest impact on their day-to-day duties. With the same data available in all the software, their team has instant access to everything they need and more – from taking dispatch calls to working in the field writing citations and finally compiling reports to understand better and justify the changing needs of the agency. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency loves the system and is happy they chose SmartCOP’s Public Safety Solutions.
