About Steamboat Data Systems, Inc.
NOTE: As of March 1, 2004, we became Steamboat Data Systems, Inc , a New York State "S" Corporation. After six years as a DBA sole proprietorship, Dave Lundgren's retirement from the Town of Poughkeepsie PD and the expanding nature of our business indicated to us that it was time to "go straight", so to speak.
Greg Wagler and Dave Lundgren, above, are enjoying a pleasant poolside working session at our favorite place, The Buttes in Tempe, Arizona, at the successful conclusion of a 2003 trip to the Sahuarita Police Department south of Tucson. Things weren't always this good; A lot of cop history and database training had to take place before we ever got on a plane or saw the gorgeous scenery in and around Phoenix, Tempe and Scottsdale from the cliff face of The Buttes.
Some Ancient History:
David Lundgren became a part-time cop in Hyde
Park, New York way back in the Fall of 1976. Hyde Park was
in those days a one-car department of seven or eight
part-time officers. Cops worked alone with backup from the
Sheriff's Office and the State Police when things got hot.
Lundgren moved to the Town of Poughkeepsie Police
Department in 1980 as a full-time patrol officer. Since
then, he has worked as a detective, a patrol sergeant, and
since June of 1994, a detective sergeant. Lundgren's
responsibilities included overseeing the day-to-day
operations of the Detective Division's 16 personnel. It was
the inheriting of the infamous "Two Legal Pad" system of
case management in 1994 that led to the creation,
development and eventual marketing of PolicePro.
In the mid to late 90s, word started to get out in
Mid-Hudson, NY area police agencies that something was up
in Poughkeepsie with newfangled data management - somehow,
the detective division of the Town PD actually seemed to
know the who, what, when and where of their cases, active
and archived. The phone started ringing, and Lundgren had
an epiphany that started us down a long, often difficult,
but satisfying road.
After setting up a small home office, Lundgren began
developing PolicePro in earnest, during evenings and
weekends. As new things were added and tested, they were
then written in to the police department's system. Many,
many, many problems were solved in programming sessions
that often went to and past 2:00AM.
By early 1998 PolicePro was an actual product, deployed in
two lower NY police departments. One thing led to another,
a website was created, and before you knew it the number of
client sites was growing - and extending into states far
away from New York.
Dave Lundgren retired from the police department after 23
years on August 14, 2003 to pursue database development and
PolicePro as a fulltime enterprise.
In 1998
Greg Wagler came aboard, initially as a
trainer, but rapidly discovered the same latent geek
potential that had astonished Lundgren - previously immune
to academic pursuits - earlier when he found that he indeed
could not only operate a computer but design information
systems on the thing. A great deal of computer and college
level training, endless nights and education ensued as the
two polished their database skills to a high level.
In the Spring of 2009 we were joined by
Doug West, a
programmer extraordinaire, who brought with him a ton of
relevant business experience that we frankly lack. Doug, a
full partner, took over the role as President of the
company, leaving Dave as VP to focus on the design, future
planning and support work.
As of April 2011, Doug is a Filemaker version 11 Certified
Developer, a highly sought after status in the Filemaker
development community.
Greg and Dave are still the Travel Team - the guys who show
up and get you installed, trained and going, and more
importantly keep you that way over the years. We have
covered many thousands of miles flying the PolicePro flag,
to places as diverse as Vermont, Alaska, California and
Arizona, among many others.
While the official HQ and physical office is in Waterford,
NY, in gorgeous Saratoga County, we're actually dispersed
over 150 miles from the mid Adirodacks to Poughkeepsie. Of
course, in this business, it doesn't matter where you are,
and Greg and Dave have frequently done support work from
the deck of the Topsail Island beach house we retreat to
annually in North Carolina.
A lot of water has gone under the bridge since the
beginning, and more clients and responsibilities mean we
have to adapt - but the core ethic remains. We are always
focused on meeting or exceeding customer demands. If you're
not happy, neither are we.