CASE PROGRESSION DECISION-SUPPORT SYSTEM IMPROVES DRUG AND CRIMINAL INVESTIGATOR EFFECTIVENESS

Law enforcement agencies have entered an era of budgetary accountabili ty along with limited budgetary increases. By reevaluating their agenc ies, better utilization of scarce resources can be managed and the nee d for additional resources documented. We were asked to study the Nebr aska State Patrol (NSP) Investigative Services Division (ISM) and to a dvise the NSP administration on their use of personnel, equipment and money. We developed a case progression decision support system (CPDSS) to aid investigative supervisors at the Nebraska State Patrol in maki ng key managerial decisions about drug and criminal cases. Our results show that a centralized DSS would be more effective than a decentrali zed DSS in this instance or an organization combining a military metap hor with investigators acting as autonomous professionals. We propose that trial implementation of both centralized and decentralized DSS mi ght be a beneficial strategy for practitioners. The comparison of two different approaches could be a strong selling point for the superior alternative.