In my unit at work we generate a lot of paperwork, more than the average patrol unit. We have to do our normal paperless reports on our laptops but, because, my unit is somewhat subcontracted by HUD, I have to make paper copies of everything we do in the housing communities (arrests, lease violations, banned people, drugs, burglaries....). So this problem led to another problem, the HUD idiots tend to lose paperwork so to combat this, we have to make 2 copies of everything, one for them and one for us to produce when they claim we didn't give it to them.
Needless to say, all of this backup paperwork makes for a lot of excess paper being used. So here I am, somewhat computer savvy (compared to my coworkers) and i find an easy way for us to export our digital reports from our police specific software into MS word documents. by doing this, i have solved the issue of confidentiality because we no longer have to pen out the SSN's and dates of birth for everyone involved before the paperwork is sent over; now we can just edit the necessary information out completely as if it were never there.
seems pretty nifty-fifty right? well, try explaining all of that to some hardheaded type-A personalities and bottom of the barrel HUD management
I have devised a way to eliminate the paper usage, created a near perfect tracking system via MS outlook, and sped up the entire process exponentially in regards to information dissemination. No longer do the area managers have to wait for the hard copies to be distributed from me, to the VP, to the community managers....now i email everyone at the same time thus keeping the VP's in the loop AND getting the critical info to community managers so they can take appropriate action in a timely fashion.
so finally, my Lieutenant has agreed to set up a meeting with the HUD folks and get the SOP rolling for this paperless transfer. I've had this thing ready for 6 months now and it's taken this long to do a simple changeover of our daily procedure? (a procedure that will give us more time on the streets instead of behind a desk)
I guess i'm just frustrated at the fact that some of my coworkers gawk at me for being a "treehugger" because i simply find it stupid that we have all of this technology and we're still printing stuff. I'm FAR from being a treehugger, i just think we can be a little more responsible, especially since most of my unit has young kids. Oh yeah, they also hate it when i tell them to turn off their cars when we're out on calls. "but my car will get hot!" is the usual reply......some people just don't get it
don't get me wrong, this isn't like one of Laura's "i hate my coworkers" rants, I love the folks i work with; i'm just tired of being ridiculed for trying to think in the future and not use our resources, "because we can."
Needless to say, all of this backup paperwork makes for a lot of excess paper being used. So here I am, somewhat computer savvy (compared to my coworkers) and i find an easy way for us to export our digital reports from our police specific software into MS word documents. by doing this, i have solved the issue of confidentiality because we no longer have to pen out the SSN's and dates of birth for everyone involved before the paperwork is sent over; now we can just edit the necessary information out completely as if it were never there.
seems pretty nifty-fifty right? well, try explaining all of that to some hardheaded type-A personalities and bottom of the barrel HUD management
I have devised a way to eliminate the paper usage, created a near perfect tracking system via MS outlook, and sped up the entire process exponentially in regards to information dissemination. No longer do the area managers have to wait for the hard copies to be distributed from me, to the VP, to the community managers....now i email everyone at the same time thus keeping the VP's in the loop AND getting the critical info to community managers so they can take appropriate action in a timely fashion.so finally, my Lieutenant has agreed to set up a meeting with the HUD folks and get the SOP rolling for this paperless transfer. I've had this thing ready for 6 months now and it's taken this long to do a simple changeover of our daily procedure? (a procedure that will give us more time on the streets instead of behind a desk)
I guess i'm just frustrated at the fact that some of my coworkers gawk at me for being a "treehugger" because i simply find it stupid that we have all of this technology and we're still printing stuff. I'm FAR from being a treehugger, i just think we can be a little more responsible, especially since most of my unit has young kids. Oh yeah, they also hate it when i tell them to turn off their cars when we're out on calls. "but my car will get hot!" is the usual reply......some people just don't get it
don't get me wrong, this isn't like one of Laura's "i hate my coworkers" rants, I love the folks i work with; i'm just tired of being ridiculed for trying to think in the future and not use our resources, "because we can."
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Toner black lung!
