By Dennis Box

The Courier-Herald

Bonney Lake interim Police Chief Buster McGehee has been on the job two months and it seems like old times.

"I feel like I'm back in the saddle again," McGehee said. "I'm still learning the community, but I'm very impressed with what's going on here. The officers in this department are very dedicated."

McGehee had been Buckley's police chief for 20 years before retiring. The 53-year-old chief worked with the U.S. Marshals Service for a couple of years before Bonney Lake Mayor Bob Young came calling. McGehee replaced former police chief Bryan Jeter who left for a lieutenant's position with the Puyallup Police Department.

While McGehee acclimates himself to his new surroundings, the Bonney Lake Police Department has picked up some new items.

The City Council approved a $60,000 interlocal agreement with the city of Tacoma and Pierce County for access to their Law Enforcement Support Agency.

The system, known as LESA, is a records management and information technology system.

A performance review of the department, completed by the Olympia consulting firm MGT of America, noted a serious deficiency with the department's record keeping system, including duplication of entries and an eight-month backlog.

The problem also meant officers could not access criminal history in the field or share information in a timely manner with other Pierce County agencies.

The LESA system, which provides records and data management, will allow officers to generate police reports and access other Pierce County police agencies' data that use the LESA system.

"This gives our officers another tool," McGehee said. "For example, if an officer has someone pulled over and that person has been arrested and booked in Pierce County, the officer can pull up the mug shot. When an officer is sitting in a patrol car at 4 a.m., the information is right there."

The new system will reduce redundancy in records keeping for officers and records staff. Once a report is entered into an officer's laptop computer, it stays in the system electronically and does not have to be re-entered.

"When I started we typed our police reports on an Underwood," McGehee said. "We thought we were in seventh heaven when they came out with White-Out. LESA is a very good tool to extract data. Crime has no boundaries and systems like this can help. It's a foundation and we can start building on it."

Officer will begin training on the new system this month.

Along with the addition of the LESA system, McGehee noted the city purchased three new detective vehicles. The new purchases replace two older vehicles and adds one.

The chief said the department is hiring a new officer, which was planned for in the 2005 budget. The Civil Service Commission is in the process of establishing eligibility requirements.

Dennis Box can be reached at dbox@cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/courierherald.