Friday nights in a detective division are brutally busy. The official start of the weekend brings out every gun-toting toad, drunk, and drug dealer in the tri-state area; and we have to clean up the mess. Things usually run smoothly, as long as the city-wide computer systems are up and running.
Last night, they weren’t.
All at once, our three main databases crashed – for the second time in two days- just in time for the dinner rush. The Police System, which is used to run people for wants and driver’s licenses, went down first. A minute or two later, PIIN, the lifeblood of a detective, crashed. PIIN comprises almost every report we must complete for every job assigned. Immediately after PIIN crashed, our PARS (Preliminary Arraignment System) froze. No arrest can be processed without being entered into PARS.
Long story short: we were crippled.
Of course, I was assigned an arrest minutes before the computers went on strike then spent the next FEW HOURS staring at my computer screen. Ain’t life grand?
Ahhhh, makes one long for the days of Barney Miller. May I call you Fish? You can call me ffffffirst!!
ReplyDeletePIIN rocks!!!
ReplyDeleteA one-pager in one minute--when it is working.
Just make the overtime and keep the PIIN jobs from going red and the sergeant leaves me alone.
:)