RMS | Crime Analysis

Overview

This document has been prepared by the IACA SMT Committee to address the requirements of records management systems (RMS) as used by law enforcement agencies for crime analysis. A RMS is an agency-wide system that provides for the storage, retrieval, retention, manipulation, archiving, and viewing of records, documents, or files pertaining to law enforcement operations.

The primary intended use of this paper is to provide crime analysts, administrators, and other key decision-makers with fundamental RMS requirements for successful crime analysis. This document explains some of the key applications and functionality needed to support and facilitate sophisticated crime analysis. There are recommendations throughout the paper with regard to workflow within the agency, questions to ask vendors and information technology (IT) personnel, and key things to consider when upgrading or replacing a RMS. At the end of this paper is a list of relevant literature covering these topics in detail; throughout, there are footnotes that point directly to key readings. A checklist that can be used to evaluate...