NYPD pays 1 mil for new manual/electric typewriters - not a joke

[ensho]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/07132009/news/regionalnews/typewrite__wrong_178919.htm


TYPEWRITE & WRONG
NYPD 'WASTES' $1M ON RELICS


The city is plunking down nearly $1 million on typewriters for its keystroke cops.

That's right -- typewriters.

Despite the adoption of high-tech equipment that can read license plates from the air and detect radiological events before they happen, manual and electric typewriters continue to be used throughout the NYPD -- and they won't be phased out anytime soon, officials told The Post.

In fact, just last year, the city signed a $982,269 contract with New Jersey-based Swintec for the purchase of thousands of new manual and electric typewriters over the next three years -- some of which retail for as much as $649 apiece.

And last month, the city signed a $99,570 deal with Afax Business Machines in Manhattan for the maintenance of its existing Brother, Panasonic and IBM Selectric typewriters.

In both cases, NYPD expenditures account for the bulk of the contract, sources told The Post.
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http://www.nypost.com/seven/07142009/news/regionalnews/type_cast_nypd_baffles_mike_179173.htm


TYPE-CAST NYPD BAFFLES MIKE


Mayor Bloomberg is keyed off that the NYPD is still buying typewriters.

It's just baffling they signed a nearly $1 million contract for the purchase of new manual and electric typewriters, Bloomberg said, responding to a story in yesterday's Post.

"Why are they using any is the question you should ask, and where do you find them?" the mayor said. "That was the thing that I thought about. I didn't think anybody made them anymore."

Tech-savvy Bloomberg, who built his media empire by employing the newest and fastest equipment, should take a trip to the Moonachie, NJ, headquarters of Swintec.

The company has been supplying the city with the otherwise outmoded equipment for years, sales manager Ed Michaels said.

Aside from cops, the company also does a brisk business selling typewriters to prison inmates who are not allowed to have computers.
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cheese and crackers! somebody must be making money on the side.

[LWolf]

1. I don't understand why they would WANT to use them.

I learned on a manual, and went to college with my mom's old IBM selectric. I wouldn't go back to a typewriter for anything, although I certainly appreciated them at the time.

[NashVegas]

14. Probably Because No One Knows Better How Much Electronic Snooping Goes On

Just ask Eliot Spitzer.

[LWolf]

15. You don't have to be connected

to use a word processor, and files can be saved on a thumb drive, if that's the issue.

All of those term papers I typed on the old selectric, using correcting tape for typos and then, on final reads, finding one more thing that needed editing, and trying to line everything up properly when I put it back in the machine...

No thanks.

[Sanity Claws]

2. Police reports are preprinted forms, with spaces to fill in

All the NYPD has to do is upload a word or pdf formatted document that would allow the offices to compose the reports online. The forms should be loaded into hand held personal devices as well as on computers at the station.

[FarCenter]

3. Most likely multipar-preprinted forms

Hence the use of typewriters that can make an impression through 4 or 5 -part carbonless paper forms.

There is probably also a requirment for handwritten signatures as well.

Plus the multipart forms may be pre-printed with serial numbers and be controlled stock.

Not saying you can't do this all with the right software -- it's just not simple.

[backscatter712]

4. I know old-school dot-matrix printers are still used for this purpose.

When you have multilayer carbon-copy forms, use a dot-matrix printer, which has a print-head with a series of pins that hammer the paper through a typewriter ribbon. They'll print through to all the layers.

It's at least a little more automated than extra-old-school typewriters.

[Davis_X_Machina]

5. All three of your points...

....are in fact the case with a lot of legal paperwork. The multipart forms are often admissible in a way that un-notarized xeroxes aren't. Ditto for signatures, and the control numbers on the forms are part can be part of a chain of custody. Every school district big and small keeps a selectric in the corner for stuff that goes into and out of the child-protective and juvenile-justice systems.

The NYPD here isn't the culprit, it's the victim. The requirements are set elsewhere, and often in statute that the legislature has to change.

[ensho]

7. I see - thanks for info

nt

[LiberalFighter]

8. I beg to differ. It is simple. IMO

The only negative would be the officer or clerk signing 4 or 5 times for each dupe. So what? Still would be a lot faster using a computer.

The software could be designed to automatically fill in data specific to an officer that is needed. The officer put in their assigned login and their name, id and other data would automatically be pre-filled based on the form being used. It would also alert the officer if they fail to fill out a required field.

Here is an example Police Use High-Tech Ticket Technology
They use Alpha Five

And the article mentions that traditionally, they would write out 5 copies of each citation by hand.


Maryland State Police go from Pen/Paper to Point/Click

[Captain Hilts]

10. BINGO.

LOVE my Hermes 3000:

[paulsby]

6. police dept's, like most govt. agencies are phenomenally inefficient

i say this as somebody with 20 yrs of police experience. this does not surprise me AT ALL. we are lightyears behind private industry. i look at the incredibly inefficient way we use information vs. for example, a grocery store that uses a laser at checkout, to instantly recognize the item, change the inventory, send a request for additional orders if they are below a certain amount, etc.

there is very little incentive for police to be efficient. increased efficiency leads to smaller budgets and less cops, since you can now do more than less. what policeunion or admin wants THAT?

the way we use (and don't use) technology is simply astounding. people feed off tv shows where many cops use all sorts of hitech gizmos and databases etc. CSI is the perfect example of this. the reality is that the amount of analog/digital/analog... etc transcriptions we do are phenomenal. it's inefficient, error prone, slow, redundant, and frustrating.

i could write a book on how incredibly inefficient police dept's are. to paraphrase elvis costello, i used to be disgusted now i try to be amused.

also, the patchork nature of the databases (licenses, warrants, reports) that we use means generally one can't simply transfer data from one to the other. example:

i want to run a license plate to record it's info on a collision report and check for wanteds, etc. i do this via a laptop program (until recently, we had to do this via dispatch which is evne more inefficient). the info pops up on my screen. there is NO way for me to transfer that data into the vehicle box on my computer report writing program. although, for COLLISION, we still use handwritten reports, so i would still have to just copy the info from my screen on to the report. even though it's already in a database, and should transfer directly. less error prone and instantaneous. if i am going to write a citation, i must copy that info AGAIN on to a citation, since again the citations are handwritten (which is moronic). then, if i need to write an incident report, like say the guy was DUI, i have to copy that info into two more reports, a WSP dui report AND my dept's report writing program. NONE of them will allow a copy and paste from the info that's already on my screen.

there are many more examples. this is just one.

[mitchum]

12. Thanks for a very good and informative post

You should write that book

[paulsby]

13. thanks. i need a catchy title first

i am open to suggestions.

[Captain Hilts]

9. They're useful for forms and some correspondence. I don't think they need that many, however. nt

[PBS Poll-435]

11. The NYPD needs to figure out how to Twitter

:sarcasm: