THE REPORT WAS PREPARED IN RESPONSE TO A REQUEST BY THE MACON POLICE DEPARTMENT FOR LEAA TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE. THE CONSULTANT ASSESSING THE DEPARTMENT'S EXISTING SYSTEM FOUND THAT, ALTHOUGH SOME FORMS OF AUTOMATED DATA PROCESSING ARE UTILIZED, NONE OF THE APPLICATIONS IS SPECIFICALLY APPLIED TO ITS RECORDS SYSTEM. IN A PRELIMINARY OBSERVATION OF THE SYSTEM'S OPERATION, THE CONSULTANT FOUND A LACK OF COORDINATION BETWEEN THE DEPARTMENT AND THE COUNTY DATA PROCESSING CENTER, TIME-CONSUMING AND WASTEFUL DATA RETRIEVAL PROCEDURES, LITTLE OR NO REGARD FOR THE SECURITY OF DATA RETRIEVED, AND INADEQUATE CROSS-REFERENCING OF INFORMATION. WITH REGARD TO THE POSSBILITIES OF A CONVERSION TO AN AUTOMATED SYSTEM, IT WAS FOUND THAT: THE MACON POLICE DEPARTMENT DOES NOT YET HAVE THE EXPERTISE TO INITIATE ANY FORM OF DATA PROCESSING APPLICATIONS AND THEREFORE SOME METHOD OF ENHANCING POLICE PERSONNEL'S UNDERSTANDING OF AUTOMATED TECHNIQUES NEEDS TO BE DEVISED; CURRENT RECORDKEEPING DOES NOT PERMIT ANY EFFICIENT METHOD OF CONVERSION TO AUTOMATION FROM THE MANUAL METHOD AND AN EFFICIENT MANUAL RECORDS SYSTEM WITH CHARACTERISTICS SIMILAR TO THOSE OF THE ANTICIPATED AUTOMATED PROCESS MUST BE DEVELOPED; POLICY AND PROCEDURES SHOULD BE DEVELOPED WHICH INSURE THE SECURITY OF DOCUMENTS, YET ENABLE ALL POTENTIAL USERS OF INFORMATION TO UTILIZE EFFICIENTLY; AND THE QUALITY AND DETAIL OF INCIDENT AND ARREST REPORTS NEEDS TO BE ENHANCED. GENERAL AND SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING DATA PROCESSING APPLICATIONS, THE RECORDS SYSTEM, AND THE COMMUNICATIONS CENTER ARE DETAILED. THEY INCLUDE CREATION OF A POSITION FOR ONE INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBLE FOR DATA PROCESSING APPLICATIONS WHO CAN BE TRAINED IN AUTOMATED PROCESSING SCIENCES AND WHO IS KNOWLEDGEABLE IN LAW ENFORCEMENT PROBLEMS AT ALL LEVELS, IMPLEMENTATION OF A CENTRAL RECORDKEEPING CONCEPT, AND TRAINING OF ALL PERSONNEL TO IMPROVE THEIR KNOWLEDGE OF THE INFORMATION AVAILABLE TO THEM AND THE PROCEDURES TO OBTAIN SUCH DATA. APPENDIXES CONTAIN SAMPLES OF DATA ELEMENTS AND A MASTER INDEX CARD AND SUGGESTED REPORT HEADINGS TO SUPPORT UNIFORM CRIME REPORT DATA COLLECTION. (VDA)