Asset Tracking in Law Enforcement Crime Labs

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office (JPSO) has the responsibility of enforcing state and local laws and ordinances within the territorial boundaries of the parish in Southeast Louisiana. The JPSO provides protection to its citizens through on-site patrols, criminal investigations, community policing, etc. In the business of law enforcement, there are any number of assets constantly on the move which plays an important role in the jobs of our many employees.

My role is within the Laboratory Service IT department, which is part of the JPSO Crime Lab, and knowing what assets we have and where they are at all times is of utmost importance to our department. Prior to implementing Asset Panda, assets were logged by section using Excel. Since the assets were not tracked via a central method or tool, keeping them current and readily available for all members of the team to view posed numerous challenges.

Since implementing Asset Panda, we are now able to streamline the management of our assets, and all in one place. With technology hardware, assets come and go so quickly and having the ability to track them in one central location makes this challenging task a lot easier.

Asset Panda has impacted our daily operations in a number of ways. We are all located within the same geographical area, however, we do span across multiple facilities. In our department, once an asset is deployed, it will remain in place until it is decommissioned. But once it’s out in the field, we can easily track where it is, who has it and its maintenance status at any time. The software is pretty intuitive!

Our funding sources vary, so now we can track the funding source per asset, which has been an invaluable tool due to the customization Asset Panda offers. That being said, the built-in barcoding, customization of the software and the implementation of the mobile app are all features that we have found especially useful. The mobile app, coupled with the barcoding allows me to have all of the assets information at my fingertips simply by scanning, whether it is from my iPhone or iPad.

Asset Panda has definitely impacted our bottom line in that we are now able to see the whole picture as it pertains to assets, all in one place. Instead of different areas trying to manage their respective assets, they are now centrally managed on an incoming and outgoing basis.

There’s no doubt I would recommend Asset Panda to a friend or colleague. I give it a 10!

- Danielle Shirk, Laboratory Service IT