Guide · public view

Law Management

Law Management allows authorized Police and Department of Justice leadership to maintain the laws used by the MDT.

Laws can be created, updated, archived, restored, and reviewed directly through the MDT without database access or developer assistance.

Law Management is intended for maintaining the current law system. Changes to current laws do not rewrite the charges already recorded on existing reports.

Who Can Manage Laws?

Law Management is available to:

Police leadership with a Boss-ranked position
Department of Justice leadership with a Boss-ranked position
Community leaders who have been specifically granted Law Management access

Access follows your current position.

If you are promoted into an authorized leadership position, Law Management becomes available. If you leave or are demoted from that position, the management tools are no longer available.

Fire Department leadership and other Boss-ranked jobs do not automatically receive Law Management access.

Opening Law Management

Open the MDT and select Law Management from the navigation.

The Law Management screen displays the laws currently stored in the MDT.

By default, the page displays Active laws.

Each law displays:

Code
Title
Classification
Fine
Jail Time
Description
Status
Last Modified

Available actions appear beside each law.

Finding a Law

Use Search laws to locate a law by its identifying information.

You can also filter the list by:

Classification

Infraction
Misdemeanor
Felony

Status

Active
Archived
All

The list can also be sorted using the available column headings.

Select Refresh when you want to reload the current law information from the MDT.

Creating a Law

Select Add Law.

Enter the law’s:

Code
Title
Classification
Fine
Jail Time
Description

Then confirm the new law.

Law Codes

Law codes must be unique.

Codes may contain:

Letters
Numbers
Spaces
Periods
Dashes
Underscores

Codes can contain up to 20 characters.

Leading and trailing spaces are removed, and codes are stored in uppercase.

Examples:

P.C. 10001

TRAFFIC-101

Once a law has been created, its code cannot be changed.

Choose the code carefully. The code serves as the stable identity of the law even if its title or other information changes later.

Editing a Law

Select Edit beside the law you want to change.

Authorized Law Managers can update:

Title
Classification
Fine
Jail Time
Description

The law’s code cannot be changed.

Select Save Changes when finished.

Significant Changes

Changes to a law’s Title or Classification require a reason.

Enter a short explanation describing why the change is being made.

This reason becomes part of the law’s history.

Examples might include:

Revised by community legislation
Reclassified following DOJ review
Corrected law title
Penal code restructuring

Current Laws and Existing Reports

Changing a law affects how the law appears for future use.

It does not rewrite the law information already recorded on an existing report.

For example, imagine a report was filed when a law was:

Reckless Driving
Misdemeanor
$500 Fine
5 Months

Later, leadership changes the current law to:

Aggravated Reckless Driving
Felony
$1,000 Fine
10 Months

The existing report retains the law information that applied when the charge was recorded.

The updated law is used for future charges.

This allows the community’s laws to evolve without changing the historical record.

Archiving a Law

Laws that are no longer in effect should be Archived, not deleted.

Select Archive beside the law.

You will be asked to provide a reason and confirm the action.

Archiving a law:

Removes it from the list of laws available for new charges
Keeps the law in Law Management
Preserves existing reports that used the law
Preserves the law’s change history
Allows the law to be restored later

Existing reports are not changed when a law is archived.

Finding Archived Laws

Change the Status filter from Active to Archived.

You can also select All to view both active and archived laws.

Restoring a Law

An archived law can be returned to active use.

Find the law using the Archived status filter and select Restore.

After confirmation, the law becomes Active again and is available for new charges.

Restoring a law does not change existing historical reports.

Law History

Select History beside a law to review its change history.

History records important Law Management activity, including:

Creation
Edits
Archive
Restore

History shows who performed the action, when it occurred, and what changed.

For edits, changed values are displayed as before-and-after information.

For example:

EDIT
Classification
Misdemeanor → Felony

Reason: Reclassified following DOJ review

Archive and other significant actions also preserve the reason supplied by the Law Manager.

This provides Police and DOJ leadership with a record of how the law has evolved over time.

Active vs. Archived

Active

An Active law is currently in effect and can be selected when adding charges to a report.

Archived

An Archived law is retained for historical and administrative purposes but cannot be selected for a new charge.

Use Archive when a law is repealed, replaced, consolidated, or otherwise removed from current use.

Do not create replacement laws merely to correct ordinary information that can safely be edited.

Good Law Management Practices

Before creating a new law, search the existing laws to make sure it does not already exist.

Use consistent law codes and naming conventions.

Keep descriptions clear enough that officers can understand when the law applies.

When changing a title or classification, provide a useful reason. The reason becomes part of the permanent administrative history.

Archive laws that are no longer in effect rather than attempting to remove their history.

When making substantial changes to the penal code, coordinate with the appropriate Police and DOJ leadership so everyone understands when the new rules take effect.

If Something Looks Wrong

If Law Management reports that another person has changed a law while you were editing it, refresh the law before trying again.

The system prevents an older copy of a law from silently overwriting newer changes.

If you believe you should have Law Management access but the option is not available, confirm that your current Police or DOJ position is a Boss-ranked position.

For technical problems with Law Management itself, report the issue to the development team rather than attempting to modify the law database directly.

Quick Reference

Task	Action
Create a law	Add Law
Change a law	Edit
Review changes	History
Remove a law from current use	Archive
Find retired laws	Status → Archived
Return a law to use	Restore
Permanently delete a law	Not available