2 Records Section Employees Recognized During Police Commission Meeting

The Kauaʿi Police Department (KPD) recognized two Records Section employees during the police commission meeting Friday, July 23.

Michele Albarado and Jessica Fletcher were both honored as employees of the month for their diligent work and service to the community.

They transferred to their positions in the Records Section in May 2020 and one of their duties was to validate and code police reports, which is called Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR). The UCR program compiles official data on crime in the US and is published by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

“Michele and Jessica worked tirelessly ̶ after hours, on weekends, and even holidays to complete the backlogged UCR report,” said Lt. Christian Jenkins. “Due to their diligent work ethic and dedication to their job and to KPD, they accomplished the task in early December 2020. This immense task would not have been completed without their dedication. I want to commend them for an outstanding job in their role in accomplishing this feat. Their dedication to their duties is exemplary and deserves recognition.”

Due to retirements, extended sick leave and other staffing issues, the UCR coding process was backlogged. Not only did the extreme backlog create a difficult task for Albarado and Fletcher, the UCR program was transitioning to a new National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). Therefore, they were tasked with catching up on several years of backlogged UCR reporting and also learning the new NIBRS system to make sure all of the backlogged items were completed and ready for the transition by Jan. 1, 2021.

“Our civilian employees aren’t in the public eye but the work they do is incredibly important,” said Chief Todd G. Raybuck. “This was data that was critical for our organization to identify crime trends seen on our islands and to help address them. This was a monumental task and their recognition today for their hard work behind the scenes is well-deserved.”

UCR is a nationwide, cooperative statistical effort of nearly 18,000 city, university, county, state, tribal and federal law enforcement agencies. Each month, law enforcement agencies report the number of known index crimes in their jurisdiction to the FBI. This mainly includes crimes reported to the police by the general public but may also include crimes that Police Officers discover.