What I found when we looked closer
Gooding County is a rural county of 15,598 in south-central Idaho, along a stretch of the Snake River where the Oregon Trail once passed. The county seat, Gooding, has 3,716 residents. Most of the county is farm and ranch land, so deputies drive long distances between calls.
In an office this size, every hour spent writing is an hour with less coverage across the county.
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:
- 1Deputy
- 2Sergeant
- 3County prosecutor
- 4Court in Gooding
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
What we're watching
These are the signals that will tell us whether it's working here:
- Hours per week returned to patrol
- Reports finished before end of shift
- Follow-up time per case
Figures on this page come from the department's own published materials. We only publish Code Four results after the department reviews them.
