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 The Louisiana Incident-Based Reporting
System (LIBRS) is a key statewide system for the Louisiana law enforcement
community that required superior project management skills to develop and
implement.
The system collects criminal incident data from approximately 400 law
enforcement agencies throughout Louisiana, ranging from sheriff departments to
police departments and university campus police. It was developed on an IBM
RS/6000-based system running AIX, with Informix as the relational database
management system, and using Informix-4GL and Microsoft VisualStudio for program
development.
LIBRS replaces a manual system for reporting crime statistics to the Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that has been used by law enforcement agencies for
many years. In the past, each law enforcement agency has compiled summary
statistics on crime in their jurisdiction, then forwarded the summarized data to
the FBI for inclusion in the national Crime in the U.S. report.
The new system collects actual incident reports filed by police officers when a
crime (murder, robbery, drug violation) is reported. This data is collected at
each individual site and then transmitted (usually via the internet) to the
Louisiana Sheriffs’ Association.. A series of procedures follow to verify the
correctness of the data before it is placed in the LIBRS relational database.
Before it is inserted into the database, every data element is checked, using
the LIBRS edit program, which was written in Informix 4GL language. Data from
this database will form the basis for the annual Crime in Louisiana report. The
Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement analysts for research and Legislative
reports will also use it.
Monthly, data from the LIBRS database is extracted, re-formatted into flat files
and sent to the FBI where it is edited for correctness. Any incidents with
errors are returned to Louisiana, where a detailed procedure has been
established to identify the source of the error and correct it. The FBI mandates
a maximum of 4 percent error-rate, but the LIBRS system has consistently met a 2
percent error-rate.
From developing systems to coordinating data exchanges between nearly 400
Louisiana law enforcement agencies, the Louisiana Sheriffs’ Association Data
Center, the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice and the
FBI presented a challenge that was more than met by using our Project Management
Methodology. It is an example of the type of complex system we are capable of
developing using our approach. |
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LEMIS (Law Enforcement Management Information System) is the key Record
Management
System for Louisiana law enforcement. Because of the varied platforms and
software installed in the almost four hundred law enforcement agencies
throughout Louisiana, several versions of the program had to be developed and
maintained: LEMIS 2000 is the Oracle version, LEMIS-IBR, version 1.8 is the
Windows-based version, and LEMIS-IBR 2.0 is the browser based version that uses
Microsoft Web Services.
As part of our engagement, we were tasked with developing a new system that
could run stand-alone at any police department, Sheriff’s office or other law
enforcement organization. The system replaces two older systems built on
obsolete and expensive database platforms. Our evaluation of the older, existing
databases showed them to be out-dated and expensive to support and maintain. Our
recommendation was to build on a newer, more powerful database management system
technology, then migrate from the older databases and applications to the new
LEMIS-IBR system. Our review, evaluation and recommendations to change the
database environment were based on a thorough analysis of data gathered from
monitoring feedback from law enforcement agencies across the state that were
using the older systems.
LEMIS-IBR is the result of extensive planning and testing using the modified
Spiral system development method that is our standard technical services
methodology. The Claiborne parish Sheriff’s Office and the University of
Louisiana-Lafayette Police Department fulfilled the role of primary users during
the iterative process of developing the system. Together with Louisiana
Commission on Law Enforcement field agents, they evaluated prototypes and
provided constant feedback from officers in the field as to the reliability and
usability of the system.
Click on the LEMIS IBR image to view the LEMIS IBR Image
Gallery. |
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