On the Record With a Woodbury Cop

You might know officer Jeff Gottstein from his .

But about 10 years ago he linked his skills as a software developer and police officer to start creating records-management software now used by 165 police departments in the state.

“I’m pretty busy,” Gottstein said.

His Law Enforcement Technology Group (LETG) employs 30 people, and many of the ideas for new public safety software comes from his time on the streets of Woodbury.

The Hopkins Police Department is looking into using it, and the Woodbury PD uses a “field-reporting component,” which streamlines how tickets and accident reports are written, he said.

For example, it used to be that officers entered a ticket by hand, and it was entered again by hand at headquarters and again by hand at the courts. Gottstein’s software (and the related equipment moves) the information electronically through each phase.

“It’s much more efficient for everybody involved,” Gottstein said.

A ticket issued at a traffic stop used to take as long as 12 minutes to process. That’s down to under five minutes using the LETG system, he said. Those numbers go from 20 or so to 5-10 minutes for an accident.

It keeps officers on the streets and, for those getting a ticket, at least it’s a shorter stop, he said.

Gottstein said he has considered giving up his job as a Woodbury cop to focus on his work at LETG, but he worried that he would “lose a little bit of the creative juices.”

He has always had an interest in software development.

“I’ve been a computer geek since I was about 12,” Gottstein said.

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