> On Tue, Jun 2, 2015 at 9:07 AM, Gordon Pegue <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: > I am curious if any of the folks subscribed to this list provide IT support > to a law enforcement or police agency and would be willing to engage in an > off-list correspondence.
> ##### As those who have worked with Law Enforcement\Corrections know this can be a very special breed of customers. One where the people are often times far more challenging than the technologies and the tech stuff can be it’s own issues. Keep in mind that many in IT come from, or think they are, in enforcement. They tend to be very “Alpha” and very very structured. not at all like a normal IT shop. They are also very political and as suggested by some of the answers can be very unrealistic in expectations. A small 10 user system will oftentimes demand everything that is in the 20K user system for the same price and once you get in bed with these guys getting out may be ….. remember the “Alpha\Prison\Jail Cell” analogy. Just bring the lube. The margin between having a great project and a nightmare is painfully slim. Get a good SOW and final expectations and make the list of things that can\will go wrong. I worked with one agency who refused to pay because Citrix would not work from the car in areas where they could not get internet Access. My job was to get Citrix in the Cars once the Network was up. Did not matter and to this day it bothers the hell out of me that the vendors all were happy to leave me hanging and the verbiage in the SOW did not matter. Then again you can learn some really cool things. Like the arguments about why Officers need to be able to keep pron and MP3 collections on the server as “evidence” and why rules are applied based on rank as a formalized agreement rather than the normal “wink-wink” we see in the rest of the world. Just remember the “Alpha” problem. I have hit it with Local Small PD, Large PD, Sheriff at County levels, and State Corrections. If you get to the Federal guys then add all of the fun you would expect in Federal Environments as an added bonus. My solution is to double the time estimates and then say “yes sire\no sir” and get my check.
