The Federal Bureau of Investigation's agents have finally made the leap into the future, upgrading from paper files to a digital case management system at a cost of more than $600 million.
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Sentinel, the agency's all-digital system, features a web browser-style user interface that allows agents to enter and review information about cases or suspects. Agents can do quick searches to see if one of their cases has any similarities to other cases, an improvement which should speed up investigations. Additionally, agents can electronically sign documents using an identification badge reader.
Certain elements of Sentinel have been in use by FBI agents for months, but the agency made the full switch to digital filing last month. The software sees about 20,000 users a day.
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"The deployment of Sentinel is an important step forward for FBI’s information technology," said FBI Director Robert S. Mueller in an e-mailed statement.
A digital filing system became a top priority for the FBI after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The Sentinel project began in 2005, but was stalled by budgetary disputes, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Why do you think it took the FBI until this year to fully adopt an all-digital system? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, JimmyAnderson
This story originally published on Mashable here.
