THE NEW YORK CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT'S ASSET MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (AMS) PROVIDES FOR INFORMATION ON EACH PIECE OF DEPARTMENT EQUIPMENT TO BE STORED IN A COMPUTER AND UPDATED ACCORDING TO PRESCRIBED PROCEDURES. EACH PIECE OF EQUIPMENT ON FILE IS TAGGED WITH A FOUR-DIGIT CLASSIFICATION CODE FOLLOWED BY A FOUR-DIGIT SEQUENTIAL NUMBER. THE FILE INCLUDES BUT IS NOT LIMITED TO THE FOLLOWING EQUIPMENT-RELATED DATA FIELDS: IDENTIFICATION DATA; ACQUISITION DATA; ASSIGNMENT DATA; OPERATIONAL DATA; REPAIR DATA; DISPOSITION DATA; TECHNICAL DATA. UPDATES TO THE FILES ARE PUT INTO THE AMS BY THE DEPARTMENT'S QUARTERMASTER. THE THREE TYPES OF INPUT PERMISSABLE ARE 'ADD TRANSACTION,' TO ADD AN ENTIRELY NEW RECORD; 'CHANGE TRANSACTION,' TO ERASE AN EXISTING DATA ELEMENT AND REPLACE IT WITH DATA ENCODED IN THE 'CHANGE TRANSACTION' SHEET; AND 'DELETE TRANSACTION,' TO ERASE OR ELIMINATE AN ENTIRE COMPUTER RECORD. UPDATES TO THE AMS MASTER FILE ARE ACCOMPLISHED ACCORDING TO A REGULAR TIME SCHEDULE. ADVANTAGES OF THE AMS INCLUDE EASY ACCESSIBILITY OF INFORMATION ON EVERY MAJOR ITEM OF EQUIPMENT, INCLUDING COST INFORMATION AND THE PARTICULAR COMMAND WITH INVENTORY RESPONSIBILITY. IT ALSO PROVIDES INFORMATION IN THE AREAS OF AVAILABILITY REPAIR, AND LOAN. THE SYSTEM HAS ALSO BEEN DESIGNED TO PROVIDE EACH CONTROL COMMAND WITH THE OPTIONAL CAPABILITY OF ENTERING UP TO 12 TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF EACH ITEM OF EQUIPMENT. THE QUARTERMASTER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR OVERALL SYSTEM OPERATION. IN ADDITION TO VERIFYING ALL INPUT SHEETS SUBMITTED HE USES HIS NORMAL RECORDS AS A CROSS-CHECK TO ENSURE THAT ALL NEWLY ACQUIRED EQUIPMENT IS ENTERED INTO THE SYSTEM. COPIES OF INSTRUCTION SHEETS, INPUT SHEETS, CLASSIFICATION CODE TABLES, AND OTHER FORMS ARE PROVIDED. (RCB)