

Typewriters live on in New York police department - rufo
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/07/13/new.york.typewriters/index.html

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JMostert
There's one argument in there that's semi-sensible: in case of a power outage,
it would seem important for the police to be able to continue processing data.
Yes, aggregates help, but keeping everyone's desktop computer running isn't as
effective as limiting it to critical systems (and extended power outages
shouldn't be crippling either). The good old pen and paper will only take you
so far, especially with the atrocious handwriting of people these days
(accustomed as we are to mashing buttons of all shapes and sizes for
communicating).

To use them in the day-to-day business seems foolish, because most of it could
be far better handled electronically. But considering the massive amount of
paper and toner bureaucracies waste printing out information because the
business processes don't evolve along, switching to such a system isn't
necessarily an improvement in the short term. And of course there's a very
significant initial cost that will be harder to justify to management than
just maintaining the old system. Many and unsubtle are the stories of IT
systems that are built to replace an existing "analog" process which end up
delayed, inefficient, feature-crippled and way over budget. This is the sort
of inglorious government-budgeted project that's especially prone to attract
overpaid, unmotivated bunglers (no offense to the underpaid, highly-motivated
geniuses out there working on such systems :-)

Whether the $0.5-$1M budget is warranted is another matter. The argument that
they have a $4B total budget will sooner make people question whether the $4B
is entirely needed than reassure them that the typewriters only take up a
minuscule fragment of said budget. This also doesn't factor in the very real
but hidden cost in terms of time and frustration for the users -- imagine the
police department using no computers or typewriters at all, but requiring that
all information exchange go through hand-written forms. The ballpen budget
might be very small, but personnel costs would balloon.

Now, let me tell you about this voice recognition software I've been working
on...

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moe
_in case of a power outage, it would seem important for the police to be able
to continue processing data._

I'd say "data processing is a very relative term when typewriters and police
officers on _hunt & peck shift_ are involved.

If hospitals can survive a power outage then I'm sure someone could find a way
to make the police survive through one, too.

~~~
bmj
_If hospitals can survive a power outage then I'm sure someone could find a
way to make the police survive through one, too._

I assume, however, that they have some sort of power back-up, right? If that's
the solution, that would be very cost-prohibitive for multiple precinct
houses.

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Kadin
Doesn't really surprise me. I've worked at banks where typewriters were still
in use, for filling out certain infrequently-used forms and preparing titles
and deeds.

It costs a significant amount of time and money to construct an electronic
form and integrate it into the existing automated workflow; if the users only
see a form a few times a year, and it changes every year, you might be talking
about several thousand dollars _per use_ to computerize that form. There's no
way that's cost effective, and it's cheaper and more efficient just to keep a
typewriter around.

It's a basic diminishing-returns proposition. In a forms-heavy environment
(which I'd imagine a police department is), you get great ROI automating the
most commonly-used forms. Then you can breakeven or get some ROI on most of
the rest of them. But in almost every situation there's always going to be one
or two forms that just aren't worth automating. In some places that means just
hand-filling them, but in others that means a typewriter.

A typewriter is a totally acceptable solution to the problem in some cases.
It's a bit silly that some people freak out so badly when they see them; if
you see a typewriter in a workplace that also has a modern electronic-forms
system with automated workflow and everything else, chances are somebody did
the analysis and realized that it just doesn't make sense to get rid of the
typewriter _for the sake of getting rid of the typewriter._

~~~
anigbrowl
I see your point as far as getting those forms into a database goes. But how
long does it take to make an editable .pdf form for really unusual cases, and
just have a database entry for 'special/unusual case y/n|select/view
appropriate form'?

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msluyter
Mind boggling. And I thought The Wire might have been exaggerating for
dramatic effect.

I wonder how these maintenance costs compare to the costs of a typical IT
setup? If it's actually cheaper, then it looks like a classic case of being
stuck in a local minimum.

~~~
Mintz
I remember when I first saw an episode of The Wire where they were using
typewriters. The computer has become so synonymous with the workplace that I
thought their office looked really, really barren without one.

~~~
joshfinnie
I never saw The Wire, but was their office completely void of computers? I can
see where some offices would still have typewriters for certain forms (for
some reason people here still use typewriters to put addresses on envolopes),
but a police station without computers has to be insane!

~~~
Mintz
Yes. I think by the second season they get A computer.

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eli
_"...mainly used for filling out property vouchers..."_

It's a pain in the ass to fill out paper forms with a laser printer.

Yeah, sure, they should probably have a new system that just prints the form
filled out, but they don't.

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gchpaco
Mark of the true policeman: if technology melts down, they'll still be able to
do their paperwork.

