Yes you read that correctly. The city has signed a nearly $1 million contract with Swintec, a New Jersey based typewriter manufacturer. The city says the majority of the contract is for the NYPD.
Faced with the decision of upgrading existing forms and paperwork to a computer-based system or sticking with more archaic forms of data entry, the city chose the latter. Sure, the upfront cost of a major administrative overhaul would be huge, but you can’t put a price tag on an upgradeable system into the future. As years go on it’s only likely to get harder and more costly to turn to a computerized system.
Disregarding the cost to the city, what of the cost to Lady Justice (I just had to)? Dr. Edith Linn, a retired NYPD cop and criminal justice professor at Berkeley in Manhattan, wrote a book in 2008 addressing the things that make it tough for a cop to do her job. One of the top issues raised by cops was outdated equpiment. “The system is hobbled by redundant paperwork, misused personnel, broken equipment, backward technology,” Linn wrote in Arrest Decisions In fact, of the 500-odd officers Linn interviewed, many said outdated equipment was the reason they might not make arrests for less serious crimes.
The NYPD stands by their decision, saying they’ve made a lot of progress over the last several years. They also claim to be developing software to replace their fleet of typewriters.
Source: NY Post
