Los Alamos Police Department Records Division Manager Teresina Berg in the Department’s file vault. Photo by Maire O’Neill/ladailypost.com
Information is the lifeblood of any organization and Los Alamos Police Department is no exception. Keeping accurate records that comply with local, state and federal laws becomes even more important when your organization happens to be responsible for the protection of life in the community as well as the rights and guarantees of both residents and visitors.
Teresina Berg has managed the LAPD Records Division for the past 11 years. Her two co-workers, Records Specialists Juanita Apodaca and Brenda Gurule, have worked there for 13 and 14 years respectively, so the Division runs like a well-oiled machine.
“They know their jobs and they love them. That’s why they’re still here,” Berg said, adding that she feels the same way.
Berg wasn’t always in the records field. A graduate of Espanola High School, she enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1990 as a finance specialist, right before the Iraq War. While in the reserves, she applied to just one school, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and immediately accepted and awarded a four-year scholarship to study Flight and Engineering. She graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Aerospace Engineering.
At Embry-Riddle, Berg met her husband to be, Brett, who was also in the ROTC program. The couple married before her senior year. When Brett was stationed in Germany training servicemen for duty in Kosovo, Teresina went to work for Hughes International maintaining satellites for the Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System (MILES).
“I wanted to work there but they weren’t hiring, so I asked them if I could volunteer for a week. After working for them for one day I ended up being employed there for three years,” Berg said.
Following 9-11, Berg got ordered to the Emergency Operations Center at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., for a year, then spent an additional two years there as a contract program manager before returning to New Mexico. In 2006, she applied for the LAPD Records Division position under former Chief Wayne Torpy and has been there ever since.
The Records Division is responsible for the creation, collection, processing, maintenance, dissemination and disposition of LAPD records from setting up the initial file on a case to when the record to when it is turned over to Los Alamos County Records for archiving after seven years. In an age when law enforcement agencies are often required to communicate with other agencies across the country and the continent, the case files are the official memory of the Department’s investigations.
Retention of records is based on state statutes or what the Chief of Police determines. Anything involving a fatality or child abuse is a permanent record, Berg said, as well as many felonies and unsolved cases. Gone are the days of an police officers keeping their case files in their desk drawer.
Two years ago, all new systems were put in place at LAPD for computer-aided dispatch, the jail management system and the records management system. In order for the three systems to work together, a huge amount of data had to migrate and the new system was implemented in September 2016.
The Department has also added a traffic accident reporting system, TraCS 10, which is a statewide traffic data collection software initiative which allows officers to electronically transfer uniform traffic citations, crash reports, incident reports and more.
Berg expects that within the next two years, LAPD will have the ability to issue “e-tickets” simply by scanning a driver’s license and printing the ticket on the spot. The TraCS 10 program is funded by the State of New Mexico.
Research is a very important part of the work of the Records Division.
“Each case record has the name, date of birth and social security number of every person involved with that case as well as the major charges and the date and location,” Berg said. “This makes it easy to find cases.”
As well as dealing with police officers, Berg, Apodaca and Gurule work with the Magistrate and Municipal Courts, the First Judicial Attorney’s Office and the County Attorney’s Office. The Records Division staff is also trained on submission of electronic fingerprinting which eliminates the need for residents to travel off the hill for this service.
In 2016, the Division processed 1,136 case reports, 83 crash reports, 79 driving while intoxicated reports and 327 warrants. Staff also processes name checks for federal, local and interagency background checks and in December 2016, processed some 1,239 of them in just one month.
The Records Division is located inside the Central Avenue side of the LAPD.
Teresina Berg during a recent vacation with her husband, Brett, and daughters Isabelle, left, and Gabrielle. Courtesy photo