What I found when we looked closer
Alice was established in 1888 and is the seat of Jim Wells County in South Texas. Its economy is centered on oil, with more than 100 oilfield companies in the area, and it sits on highways connecting Corpus Christi, Laredo, and the Rio Grande Valley.
That mix brings a transient workforce and highway traffic on top of a city of 17,891, and investigators spend real time working through recorded footage.
Following one report through the building
The first thing we do with a new department is trace where a report goes after the officer hits submit. Here, it passes through 4 hands:
- 1Patrol officer
- 2Sergeant
- 3Investigations
- 4Jim Wells County court
Every one of those readers needs the same facts from the first draft. That is what shaped what we built.
What we built for them
Investigators can search transcripts in English or Spanish instead of re-watching an interview to find one quote.
What we're watching
These are the signals that will tell us whether it's working here:
- Investigator time to locate key statements
- Cases assembled without re-watching full footage
Figures on this page come from the department's own published materials. We only publish Code Four results after the department reviews them.
