The New Jersey Police Chief Magazine | September 2021 NJ Crash — New Jersey ’ s Electronic Crash Reporting System
On July 15 , 2021 , a four-year project to migrate New Jersey ’ s paper crash reporting system to a digital format went live . To date , approximately 70 Police agencies have plugged into the NJ Department of Transportation ’ s , “ NJCRASH ” system . While this represents a small percentage of the state ’ s law enforcement agencies , this was an enthusiastic first step to a paperless process .
To gain an understanding of the importance of this project I will shine the light on how the current system works . The current process allows police agencies to mail in paper crash reports or digitally transferred PDF documents . These forms are at times inaccurate and incomplete . Both forms of transfer , do not allow for the digital analysis of the crash data . When the DOT collects these documents , they are printed and delivered to a third-party vendor who manually extracts the crash data analytics . This information is returned to the DOT and is audited for accuracy before it can be shared with the NJ Division of Highway Traffic Safety “ DHTS ” and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration “ NHTSA ”. The current system can be best described as labor intensive and costly for police agencies as well as the DOT . Sadly , the result of this process is stale , inaccurate , and incomplete data .
To launch the project , the NJ DOT has partnered with Lexis Nexis to create a digital NJ Crash report . This report is electronically transferred to the DOT after review by a police agency . The report contains a built-in business language , or data entry rules , that promotes consistency and accuracy . The review process flags any sections of the report that conflict with other sections and / or sections that may be inaccurate or incomplete . After the crash report review , the document can be immediately sent to the DOT without further handling by police clerical staff .
Where are we now ?
· Lexis Nexis is currently working with Computer Aided Dispatch “ CAD ”, Records Management Systems “ RMS ” and Report Writing vendors to integrate the NJ Crash Report .
· Lexis Nexis does not take ownership of the crash reports and cannot sell or share these documents with anyone other than NJ DOT . This arrangement does not interfere with current report share vendors , such as CarFax .
Current challenges :
· Some police agencies , with electronic crash reporting software , are under the assumption that their reports are being electronically sent to NJ DOT . These reports are not being electronically transmitted unless you are using the NJ Crash software . This is a significant problem today .
· Crash reports are either not submitted or are received extremely late .
· There are numerous CAD , RMS and report writing vendors in the state .
· Cost of integrating Lexis Nexis into current systems . ( NJ DHTS Grant Funds may be available to assist )
· The NJU DOT will stop accepting paper or scanned crash reports at some time in the future .
NJ Crash Benefits :
· Timely , accurate and actionable crash data for your town and the state .
· The Lexis Nexis software comes with an analytics suite .
· NJ Crash improves the accuracy of crash reports . During the review process , NJ Crash will flag content conflicts , errors , and omissions .
· Cost savings , NJ Crash eliminates the need for clerical staff to handle , scan or mail crash reports thereby freeing personnel up for other tasks .
To learn how to enroll in NJ Crash or for more information regarding the NJ Crash electronic crash reporting system please contact : Captain Michael J . Rizol Jr ., NJSP , Retired Principal , Equity Reconstruction LLC ( 908 ) 307-4528 mrizol @ equityreconstruction . com
If you are a current NJ Crash customer and require technical assistance , please contact :
· Phone : 866-495-4206
· Email : support @ njcrashrecords . org
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