Sheriff's office gets technology boost

Former Sanders County Undersheriff Rube Wrightsman had a saying when any of the rural deputies were a little too worked up about something, “A little less Barney Fife, a little more Andy Griffith.” His reference to the nostalgic Andy Griffith Show acknowledged the Sanders County Sheriff Office’s (SCSO) situation as a department quartered in a remote area, but also encouraged professionalism and an attitude of doing the best you can with what you’ve got.

A new development at the SCSO will bring the department out of Griffith’s little town of Mayberry and into the current century of technology. An approval in the budget and strong support from the commissioners will allow SCSO to make a much-needed upgrade in software known as RMS (Records Management System).

“The program we’ve been using is grossly outdated and the company’s tech support has been less than helpful for years,” shared Undersheriff Lanny Hensley. “We’d been shopping around for a new, more efficient system but most weren’t all that much better or were very expensive – and we were looking for more bang for our buck.”

A serendipitous visit from a salesperson peddling a system led to interest from SCSO, as well as other departments in the area. Hensley and SCSO Administrator Theresa Milner invited the company to put on a presentation of the software at the Thompson Falls Fire Hall. Staff from Lake County Sheriff’s Office were also present and interested in the software. Following the presentation, there was no question it was the program SCSO wanted, but there were hoops to jump through at the state level. Lake County’s interest took it so far as to send officers down to California to ride along with officers there to see the program in action.

“Lake County was so impressed, they immediately got the ball rolling,” shared Hensley, noting that Lake County cleared the way for other Montana agencies by getting through the bureaucratic red tape and landing the approval of the state department of justice to give the company access to records needed to go online.

The company is ADSi (Application Data Systems Inc.) and has been in the records management system business since 1981. But Milner noted it doesn’t matter how long a company has been around if they aren’t updating or upgrading their product.

“We’ve been using a program called SWIFT that really hasn’t had any major improvements since 1995,” Milner explained. “We’ve had trouble getting calls back with technical help and if a problem was actually resolved, we considered it a miracle.”

Hensley compared SWIFT and ADSi to driving to Billings in a Model-T versus a modern luxury vehicle – either way the destination is reached, but the frustration and steps taken to get there are very different experiences.

“Aside from the great reviews from others in this line of work, we were very impressed with the price and the technical support offered,” said Hensley. “The fact that we can have our own server and 24-hour access to tech help is huge – and the cost is about $100,000 cheaper than some other systems we were looking at.”

Sanders County Clerk and Recorder Nichol Scribner, who oversees budget proposals said, “This system is a lot more user friendly and will keep deputies out on the street instead of in the office. ADSi is going to bring the SCSO into this century for records management and at least on the surface seems like an excellent use of funds.”

SCSO is scheduled to go online with ADSi in December. Trainings will begin with administrators and work its way down.

“Computers are my least favorite thing, so the learning curve might be steeper for me,” Rummel said when he shared the news at the DUI Taskforce law enforcement luncheon recently, joking that even old dogs can learn new tricks – especially if the new trick isn’t as complicated as the old one.