Solicitor general seeks $557,000 for case management and asks for office space, project manager and vehicle replacements

DeKalb County Solicitor General presented a multi-part budget request to the Finance, Audit and Budget Committee on Feb. 13 seeking $557,000 to buy a new internal case-management and digital evidence-management system, funds for a project manager to lead implementation, additional office space and replacement vehicles for investigators.

Solicitor General (name given in the packet) described the office as prosecuting misdemeanors countywide across three court locations and said the office is staffed at 37 attorneys (45 if fully staffed) and about 75 workspaces; the office is down roughly 14 employees from an ideal complement. The office fields roughly 70,000 victim contacts per year and the solicitor stressed that an integrated case-management system would centralize victim notifications, automate routine communications, reduce manual evidence-handling time and preserve continuity when staff turnover occurs.

The $557,000 figure covers both the case-management system and a digital evidence-management system with onboarding and the first year of service, the solicitor’s team told the committee. The vendor implementation would include 24/7 support and a licensing tier sized for current staff (the vendor proposal covers up to roughly 120 users to allow for growth). The solicitor asked for a project manager (county position cost estimated around $4,000 in the materials) to support internal rollout and for 10 additional offices at the county’s 160 facility plus an additional office at Camp Circle to improve attorney workspace and reduce time lost retrieving offsite files. The office also requested two investigator vehicles; fleet recommended electric vehicles and the solicitor indicated they are beyond expected service life.

Committee members asked whether other jurisdictions use the proposed system; staff said the vendor supports roughly 700 agencies nationwide and this would be the first implementation in Georgia. Commissioners asked about time savings and storage strategy; the solicitor said investigators now spend large portions of their day downloading and uploading body-camera video and the system would reduce that burden. The solicitor said full implementation would take about 12 months.

The package as presented was an ask for budget consideration; committee members asked for supporting documentation to be emailed to the committee and did not vote on funding on Feb. 13.