Crime Analyst Research Paper For my research paper I obtained, gathered, and received information from John Lawson, a current crime analyst for the Oregon State Police Department (OSPD). In my gathering of information through continuous personal contact with Mr. Lawson via email, I was able to obtain an understanding of what it means to be an analyst, what it takes, how one is used, and how he functions within his specific organization. I was also able to obtain insight into his organization and into his day-to-day operations. As a result, I was also able to get a look into how his organization uses an analyst specific skill set to assist and support the needs of the organization and a look into how vital they are to their departments …show more content…
Lawson, his job description in one sentence is, “Develop, plan, provide and participate in research, gathering, evaluation, reporting and dissemination of crime data, conduct crime analysis and assist in case management” (Lawson, 2015). This means he is tasked with doing research for major crime detectives which involves; locating subjects, getting contact information for them, finding associates, criminal histories, vehicle histories. He also processes and maps call data and records, which entail finding out who is calling who, how many times, and where they are calling. In addition, he develops charts and graphics to assist in investigations and court cases, by putting together timelines and associations charts that facilitate an understanding of the data. Furthermore, he is also tasked with managing cases for major crimes by keeping track of who is doing what and making sure all data is organized. As well as doing whatever the lead detectives needs. Like he said, “I don't usually do the same things on every case I work. Most of my work can be done at my office in Salem but I often travel to crime team command post during the initial call out” (Lawson, …show more content…
Lawson exercises his analyst skill sets and is routinely asked to produces research on subjects. Often detectives will call him from the field and ask him to try and locate someone or find out who owns a specific phone number. At his agency, they are basically intelligence analysts rather than typical crime analyst. They don't really work with stats or do predictive crime mapping. Instead, his routing task involve him doing; backgrounds, timelines, call data records analysis, spreadsheets, bulletins (bolos, informational, public service). He also routinely works with detectives and sometimes the D.A and prosecutors. He is also available as a resource for any law enforcement agency in the state. The way he gathers, produces, extracts, and disseminates much of this information is through a variety of software and applications. He uses things like ArcGIS mapping—geographic information system— spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Access, Excel, and Powerpoint. As for CompStat, his organization does not take part in it, as they are more intelligence based rather than crime prevention orientated