Six Lake County towns combine for upgraded police records system

Six Lake County villages have banded together to lease a new digital police records management system, a move officials say resulted in the communities landing a high-end product at an affordable price.

When the Michigan-based New World Systems software is launched sometime this year, it is expected to help police with features such as a centralized data repository, email notifications to commanders, mapping tools, crime analysis and automated case management.

Lake Zurich will be the host community for the system that also will be used by police in Lindenhurst, Kildeer, Round Lake, Hawthorn Woods and Round Lake Beach. Lake Zurich police headquarters on Mohawk Trail will have the necessary hardware and servers, along with backup equipment in case of a power failure.

In the case of Lake Zurich, Director of Innovation Michael Duebner said the deal for the public safety software is another example of meeting a goal to collaborate with other governments to save taxpayers' money. Lake Zurich officials said the village's current records management system is decades old and no longer capable of meeting the village's needs.

"I think, individually, all of our communities would have been (financially) challenged to pick a 'Best of Breed' software," Duebner told the Lake Zurich village board last week. "But, collectively, we were able to leverage the consortium to drive a pretty hard bargain with New World Systems and to give everybody a great product at an extremely reasonable price."

Costs for the six towns were established by population, according to the five-year lease agreement.

Because Round Lake Beach is the largest of the group, startup costs and the first year's lease should total $59,246 this year, followed by Lake Zurich at $41,955, Round Lake's $38,975, Lindenhurst at $30,607, Hawthorn Woods at $16,549 and Kildeer at $8,368. Only lease payments will be due for years two through five, with Round Lake Beach owing $41,324 annually, followed by Lake Zurich at $29,263, Round Lake at $27,185, Lindenhurst at $21,348, Hawthorn Woods at $11,543 and Kildeer at $5,837.

Lindenhurst Village Administrator Matt Formica said it would have been a more difficult decision for officials there to pursue the new police records management system solo without the cost-savings achieved as part of a larger deal.

"This collaborative approach is similar to what many communities have been doing; like Lindenhurst, Lake Villa, Fox Lake and others on emergency 9-1-1 dispatching, where we all realize mutual benefit through collaboration versus providing the service on our own," Formica said Monday.

Hawthorn Woods Police Chief Jennifer Paulus also said the New World Systems records management package likely would not have been secured by her village alone. She said the lease for the new digital system will allow Hawthorn Woods to move from an "antiquated" 16-year-old access database and into 21st century record keeping.

"I am mostly looking forward to upgraded field reporting and near real-time access to data," Paulus said.