Close

2021 Annual Report: Information Technology Division

Tania Johnson, IT Project Management
Tania Johnson, IT Project Management
Vlad Klyuchnikov, IT Customer Support
Vlad Klyuchnikov, IT Customer Support

Overview

The Information Technology Division (ITD) strives to efficiently deliver business-driven information, technology, and support that enables our agency to provide effective law enforcement and emergency services. In support of that mission, ITD provides around the clock technical desk support to internal WSP staff and external police departments throughout Washington State. Our staff are also on call to respond to technology issues with Criminal History, SECTOR, and other systems.

ITD delivers secure information and technology services that comply with state and agency policies. We work closely with state and federal agencies that provide information and technology oversight. Those oversight agencies include the Washington State Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), Office of Cyber Security (OCS), the Department of Enterprise Services (DES), Federal Bureau of Investigation, and other regulatory agencies.

Key Measurements and Statistics

Service Requests: ITD measures the volume of customer requests for service and assistance.

Successes of 2021

The agency experienced several improvements because ITD contributed to their business:

    • Criminal Records Division (CRD) modernized the WACIC and WASIS (W2) application so they can improve automation of work. The W3 project went live on July 2, 2021.
    • Two labs were able to meet federal requirements by upgrading their Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS).
    • The Crime Lab was able to meet legislative requirements after upgrading the Sexual Assault Kit (SAK) system.
    • Resilience of the computing environment was improved after upgrading to a virtual host and storage system.
    • The computing environment remained secure after two major security vulnerabilities were mitigated by the security team. The vulnerabilities (Exchange and Log4J) were reported by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

The agency completed several items that represented a significant body of work:

    • Collected and submitted information related to the 2020 Microsoft Detection and Response Team (DART) remediation of a statewide cyber-attack after reviewing 32 findings specific to WSP. A bulk of security work occurs after the business returns to normal operations.
    • Completed a staffing assessment that indicates a significant need for staffing.