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and no formal case screening process, such as the use of solvability factors to <br />determine whether a case should be assigned or not has been used. The new <br />Records Management System will have a robust Case Management system <br />which will allow the use of solvability factors, case tracking and investigator <br />status reporting. <br />When the investigators receive the cases, they review the case and make <br />a decision on how much work can be done on that case based on workable <br />leads, the seriousness of the crime and their own experience. Many cases <br />simply have no workable leads. In these cases, the investigator makes an <br />attempt to contact the complainant and get additional information which might <br />identify new avenues of investigation. If no additional information is obtained and <br />no workable leads are found, the case is suspended. It can be reopened later if <br />new leads develop. In more serious cases, such as murder, rape or aggravated <br />robbery, the investigators will continue to work on the case or hand it over to the <br />Felony Crimes Unit for continuing investigation. Unfortunately, the cases never <br />stop coming in and new cases usually have a higher probability of solution. <br />Investigating offenses that have no workable leads and little chance of <br />solution is beyond the means of most police agencies in this country. Training <br />programs such as Managing the Criminal Investigation Function and others <br />clearly recognizes this dilemma. Citizens expect the police to be concerned <br />about their crime and try to find the suspect and hold him accountable. To do so <br />in every case would require resources beyond the reach of any city. It is from <br />this understanding that formal case screening processes have developed. These <br />processes are built into most crime reporting software available today. While the <br />current reporting software has the feature, it was never set up by the vendor to <br />work as planned. As indicated earlier, the new software has a robust case <br />management package which will allow not only a formal case screening process <br />- customized to the department's need - but will also develop summary reports <br />Page 34 <br />