An end-of-the-year deadline set by the state looms for local law enforcement agencies.

By Dec. 31, the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office and the Bluffton Police Department are supposed to have up and working automated systems for filing crime statistics with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

But though state officials have set the deadline for local law enforcement agencies, there is one thing the state has not put in place -- a way to pay for the systems. There is no state funding for the change in systems, leaving the 262 public law enforcement agencies that fall under the mandate to their own financial devices.

Still, officials at SLED insist the new systems will make it easier to fight crime by cutting down on paperwork and making it easier for law enforcement officials to identify crime trends across the state.

Departments have to acquire the software and train personnel so that 60 sets of crime data can be transferred regularly and automatically to Columbia. As it stands, the state law enforcement division collects paper forms.

"Unless we automate, we can't make maximum use of the data," said Maj. Mark Huguley, the director of Criminal Justice Information Services at SLED.

About 90 agencies in the state have made the switch so far, Huguley said. Despite this relatively small percentage, he said SLED is receiving about 50 percent of the data it needs online.

"We've seen an excellent response," Huguley said. "It hasn't been totally positive, but almost."

The simplest systems run about $1,800 for departments with fewer than 10 officers, but can reach upwards of $100,000, depending on their complexity, Huguley said. SLED requires five days of training to certify personnel, who are officers in some departments, records clerks in others.

Bluffton Police are looking at software that should run $15,000 to $17,000, said Chief John Brown. Beyond just transmitting data to Columbia, Brown hopes it will help identify crime trends in his expanding jurisdiction.

"It needs to be in place now, but we're pushing to have it in place by December," he said.

An evidence technician -- whom Brown would like to hire for the next budget year to take administrative duties off the officers, including himself -- would help manage the new system.

"I do it all right now," he said.

The tech position, if approved, would have a salary of about $24,000 to $26,000, he said.

The Beaufort County Sheriff's Office sent five records clerks to SLED for a week of training, spokeswoman Debbie Szpanka said. The office will begin looking at software from three vendors on May 1, she said, and cost estimates are not currently available.

South Carolina was the first state to adopt the FBI's National Incident-Based Reporting System in 1991, he said. The state was a pilot case for the national system since it had kept similar records since the late '70s, he said.

But despite its pioneering effort more than a decade ago, as of late, the state has struggled to collect the information on time.

Automated systems already are in place at Beaufort and Port Royal Police Departments with mixed reviews.

The Port Royal Police Department, which has 16 officers and six administrators, bought its computer system in August for about $30,000, said Sgt. John Griffith, and it was running by January. The cost was about the same as buying and outfitting a new police car, he said. Annual maintenance fees run from $1,000 to $1,500, he said.

Griffith, a detective, said the system had saved him the two or three hours he spent daily preparing statistics for SLED, freeing him up for casework.

"As far as what we got, it was a bargain," he said. "I think it'll pay for itself.

"Up front the cost was more, but in the long run it's going to cost less," he said.

But not everybody has been as satisfied.

Lt. Clifford Schlegelmilch, who handles administration and technical support for the Beaufort Police Department, said the department's system, in use for about a year, has not saved money.

"What happens now is we're doing SLED's job," he said. "It definitely takes us longer to do incident reports that it did before."

And while it does help access information, Griffith said in a town the size of Beaufort, the benefit is negligible.

"Here in Beaufort, we don't need a computer to tell us where the trends are," he said. "Anybody out in the street can pretty much tell you where the crime is."