North Carolina city department loses ordinance violation records

If an organization chooses to store its records in paper form, it undoubtedly needs a contingency plan. Accidents happen, items are misplaced, natural disasters occur and a bevy of other actions could leave files missing or destroyed altogether. 

If the company hasn't transferred the information online using conversion services, after a document is lost or ruined, the data could be gone forever. This is something that leaders in Greensboro, North Carolina, might have to accept after numerous records went missing from the ordinance enforcement department.

City Councilwoman Nancy Vaughan told WFMY News 2 that employees misplaced hundreds of files that recorded instances of housing and other code violations in the urban area. This has been going on for some time, the news provider detailed, and records from 2010 until the present may be gone.

Though the investigation remains ongoing, the results could be harmful if the files aren't located. If there are housing or code issues with some of the structures in the city, individuals knowingly disobeying the rules aren't going punished, and lives could be at stake if structures are unstable.

Had these files been transferred to the computer, law enforcement agents could be tasked with making individuals aware of the issues rather than searching for records.

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