For police chiefs where code enforcement falls under their supervision, chances are you can’t spare much time to oversee these operations. While code enforcement is a vital function for the community, as a non-emergency function, it doesn’t pull precedence when emergency situations are on the table. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t need looking after – just that you want to minimize the amount of time you think about it.

This is where code enforcement software can be beneficial. With case management features for officers and staff management features for supervisors, solutions like Comcate can provide both officers and police chiefs with the tools they need for the code enforcement function to operate smoothly – minimal involvement required.

It’s tailored specifically for code enforcement.

Code enforcement has different needs than law enforcement. Anytime you try to make a single solution work for different functions, it ultimately isn’t going to serve everyone well – and in this situation, code enforcement is always going to get the short end of the stick. Comcate’s Code Enforcement Manager was designed with code enforcement case management in mind. Officers can document a violation, schedule a follow-up inspection, and auto-generate a notice, all within two minutes and from the field, too.

Keep tabs on what code enforcement officers are working on.

Software acts as a central hub for all ongoing cases. From a supervising standpoint, this means increased visibility into team activities. Supervisors have access to a central dashboard that provides an overview of all active cases. This dashboard can be filtered to view caseload by employee, date created, case status and more, helping you to identify issues such as imbalanced workloads and bottlenecks, as well as see what every officer is working on at-a-glance.

Move cases along without waiting for an officer.

Another benefit to centralizing case management is that any team member can access a case (with the right permissions). For supervisors, this means you can reassign a case to a new officer, or close out a case if an officer is out-of-office.

“One thing that has been nice is if I have an officer that is on vacation, I can pick up the program and see if there is a follow-up that needs to be completed, review what he has already done, and then close out that case without his involvement,” said William Wallner, Chief of Police for Ripon, Wisconsin and Comcate user.

Provide increased transparency to your supervisors and government leadership.

This high-level visibility into ongoing cases isn’t just beneficial for supervising employees. It’s also helpful in your relationships with your own supervisors or any other significant stakeholders in the agency, whether it’s a mayor, council, or city manager, who might have questions or want to see data.

Comcate’s code enforcement software has built-in business intelligence that lets you turn case data into custom reports, complete with visuals, that provide an easy-to-understand overview of what’s happening in the code enforcement department.

Read-only access to the software can even be given to these stakeholders to look up answers for themselves. 99% of the time, residents will call law enforcement directly when there is an emergency situation, but for code enforcement issues, it’s not uncommon for residents to reach out directly to your municipality’s elected officials – who in turn are reaching out to you or your team for answers.

Some municipalities, like Sedalia, Missouri and Arvada, Colorado, have provided their elected officials with read-only access to the software that allows them to bypass asking you (and in turn your officers) for answers and lets them directly look up information themselves, saving everyone a lot of time and questions.

Make the most of limited resources in code enforcement.

Finally, the biggest advantage of code enforcement software is its ability to save time. There are only so many hours in the day (unless overtime is on the table, and no one wants that), and while you can’t make more hours, you can help your team make better use of the hours they have.

When officers are equipped with tools to help them more efficiently perform their job, not only does their productivity increase, but it leaves time for other valuable activities, such as conversations with property owners that educate and build trust within the community – or even just getting out the door on time to boost job satisfaction and improve morale.

Schedule a Meeting with Comcate Today!

Learn how Comcate can help make government delivery simple, and offer a modern digital experience to help you increase transparency, efficiency, and performance across your departments. If you have any questions about implementing our software, please fill out the form below or call us directly at (415) 632-1248.