Case progression decision support system improves drug and criminal investigator effectiveness

Law enforcement agencies have entered an era of budgetary accountability along with limited budgetary increases. By reevaluating their agencies, better utilization of scarce resources can be managed and the need for additional resources documented. The authors were asked to study the Nebraska State Patrol (NSP) Investigative Services Division (ISM) and to advise the NSP administration on their use of personnel, equipment and money. They developed a case progression decision support system (CPDSS) to aid investigative supervisors at the Nebraska State Patrol in making key managerial decisions about drug and criminal cases. The present results show that a centralized DSS would be more effective than a decentralized DSS in this instance of an organization combining a military metaphor with investigators acting as autonomous professionals. The authors propose that trial implementation of both centralized and decentralized DSS might be a beneficial strategy for practitioners. The comparison of two different approaches could be a strong selling point for the superior alternative.