By Kathryn Gregory
Charleston Gazette
Whe West Virginia State Police has taken steps to become a more eco-friendly organization - and could be saving tons of money in the process.
A new computer system has eliminated much of the need for paper manuals, notices and memorandums within the organization, State Police officials say. That saves paper and toner, and printing and shipping costs, for one of the largest organizations in West Virginia, with almost 1,000 employees.
Six months after buying Power-DMS, a digital management system, at a conference in April 2008, the department was able to upload many of the documents used by employees across the state, said Sgt. Mike Lynch with the agency’s planning and research department.
First came the State Police policy and procedure manual, given to troopers when they join the force. The three-ring, four-inch binder is filled with more than 650 pages.
“Imagine how tall a stack of 650 or 700 policy manuals are, each of which are 4 inches thick. Every time a new policy comes out, we have to print out almost 700 copies and mail it to each of our troopers and detachments,” Lynch said.
The State Police was able to put the policy and procedure manual online last fall. Officials hope to have all of their memoranda and special notices done electronically by Jan. 1.
“In the past, everything has always been generated with paper and sent out to every detachment, where troops have to read and sign their name to an acknowledgment sheet, then send it back to headquarters,” said Lynch. “It’s a huge paper trail. It’s a very inefficient system.”
Now, when a document is posted to the intranet, an e-mail is sent out saying something new has been posted. When a document is opened, it’s electronically signed and a notification is sent back to the PowerDMS administrator.
“It’s a very green thing to be doing,” Lynch said. “Even though we’re already green, we’re trying to go greener and do our part to help the environment.”
By switching to the online intranet, which would allow each detachment to log and receive memos electronically, it could save the department thousands of dollars a year.
During the course of a year, State Police headquarters mails out special orders, notices and memoranda to all 60 detachments, and to each trooper across the state.
“One recent special order cost $15.40, on something sent to only 35 troopers” Lynch said. “On average, the WVSP can send up to 550 special orders a year, in addition to issuing notices and memorandums.”
“You can imagine the mailings of those alone. Just the postage is pretty high,” he said.
Right now, Lynch has no real estimate on how much could be saved since the system is so new, but said he probably will have a better idea after it’s been in place for a whole fiscal year.
“The West Virginia State Police and all our state employees continue to find better ways they can do their jobs, and to operate more effectively and efficiently,” said Gov. Joe Manchin.
“By implementing technology such as this software, the State Police are saving money and reducing our environmental impact while still maintaining the high level of service West Virginians expect.”
In addition to documents, the system also can handle video and interactive programs, so online training and testing can be done on the new system.
“It really opens up the doors for what we can do,” Lynch said.
The only drawback of the system is that the State Police has only five administrative licenses, so there is a limited number of people who can actually log on and upload documents to the intranet.
Even so, Lynch said he hopes detachment commanders won’t hesitate to send documents to headquarters to have them added.
As for the money that’s saved, Lynch said the department has no plans for it - but notes that all state agencies have been told to cut back 5 percent of their budget.
“It will probably just contribute to our cutting costs,” he said. “So it’s not like we’re going to be able to use the money in another way, just add it to our reduction.”
Copyright 2009 Charleston Gazette