...Predictive Policing: Fighting Crime Using Information Technology Andrew E. Carrington III Strayer University Abstract The days of a police department’s dependency on random patrol techniques alone to fight crime are a thing of the past. Police departments across the United States have begun to use a strategy known as COMPSTAT (computer statistics). COMPSTAT is an extremely successful crime analysis and law enforcement management process developed by the New York Police Department. COMPSTAT uses Geographic Information Systems to map the locations of where crimes occur. The application of information technology has enabled countless police departments across the United Stated to reduce crime. This method known as predictive policing has led to a decrease in several crimes such as automobile thefts, robberies, and burglaries. Predictive Policing: Fighting Crime Using Information Technology Using statistics and analytical data to predict criminal activity has become standard practice in several police departments throughout the United States. This type of policing is known as predictive policing. Police and the use of information technology (IT) have received interest from a wide research community. One advantage of the predictive policing and the information systems are they allow for the police to respond to the crime much faster. Predictive policing also involves threats and weaknesses as the transition is attempted to bridge the gap between traditional policing methods...
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...Predictive Policing Wayne Thomas Clifton Howell Information Systems Decision-Making October 17, 2014 Abstract This paper represents the Information Systems Decision-Making course and will address the following two issues. * We will discuss New York City Police Department crime fighting strategy that is also known as Computer Statistics (COMPSTAT). * We will also look at this issue Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats analysis (SWOT) of the law enforcement policies. The goals of this Information Systems Decision-Making paper will be to reflect that the writer has developed the skills that will lead to a more productive workplace environment and learning experience. Compare and Contrast Let us first look the two different method that are being applied in this scenario. Using random patrols in an effort to reduce crime an alternative, useful and productive. In fact the process of using random patrols involves a bit of social interaction that could be very useful in the prevention of future and present crimes. Officers walking the beat get to meet and know people in the neighborhood; they get to interact with families and can make a difference from a more personal level. Placing officers where crimes are likely to occur in the future in known as Predictive Policy. This is the use of technology in the process of crime fighting. Law enforcement would use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in locating on maps the location of previous crimes...
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...Predictive Policing Walter Clay Strayer University Predictive Policing In order to compare and contrast the application of information technology (IT) to optimize police departments’ performance to reduce crime versus random patrols of the streets. We have to look into the technologies available to them today. Predictive policing has become the one of leading standard for police departments today. Predictive policing primary role is to simply pre-empt crime, it is rooted heavily in business analytics and relies advanced technical tools and data analysis. In 2009, Charlie Beck, Chief of Detectives for the Los Angeles defined predictive policing in the following terms: “With new technology, new business processes, and new algorithms, predictive policing is based on directed, information-based patrol; rapid response supported by fact-based prepositioning of assets; and proactive, intelligence-based tactics, strategy, and policy. The predictive-policing era promises measurable results, including crime reduction; more efficient police agencies; and modern, innovative policing.” Dr. John Morgan introduced the five elements of predictive policing that focuses on integrated operations, seeing the big picture, cutting-edge analysis and technology, linkage to performance, and the adaptability to changing conditions. Technology is used in many different ways to implement the basics of the five elements. It is used for simple tasks as crowd control to the complex task of traffic...
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...Master of Science in Information Systems CIS 500 – Information Systems for Decision Making Name: Sindhura Garikapati Assignment Title: Predictive Policing Professor: Dr. Mark Cohen Date: 8 July 2014 ABSTRACT Predictive policing relies on using advanced technological tools and data analysis to take proactive measures to pre-empt crime. Predictive policing is the advanced strategy of using information systems to forecast future crime and take necessary measures to prevent them. Los Angeles police department Chief of Detectives Charlie Beck defines it this way – “With new technology, new business processes, and new algorithms, predictive policing is based on directed, information-based patrol; rapid response supported by fact-based prepositioning of assets; and proactive, intelligence-based tactics, strategy, and policy. The predictive-policing era promises measurable results, including crime reduction; more efficient police agencies; and modern, innovative policing.”(©ACLU of Massachusetts) TOPIC 1 Compare and contrast the application of information technology (IT) to optimize police departments’ performance to reduce crime versus random patrols of the streets. The professional era of policing began in the 1960’s when the policing strategy was based largely on random patrol...
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...prevent or reduce crime. Following the white flight and the development of suburban towns, police started to switch from their standard practices to improve their procedures. This paper will explain and compare ten police innovations in order to show how police officers and researchers work to reduce crime. These innovations include problem-oriented policing, community policing, “broken windows” policing, Compstat, hot spots policing, “pulling levers” policing, evidence-based policing, third party policing, Intelligence-led policing, and predictive policing. In addition, it will contain a personal recommendation of which reform police agencies should implement. The paper will explain specific examples on how this reform will be helpful to police agencies. Police and scholars work to enhance reforms vigorously in order to decrease crime, assist with community needs, and prevent further delinquency. Certain police reforms provide more decision-making power to the individual beat officer, and problem-oriented police gives vast amounts of discretion to them. Problem oriented policing (POP) is a logical way of looking at the problem in policing. The POP reform works to understand and analyze crime and policing tactics to try to prevent the crime or at least manage to slow the frequency of the crime. POP was designed by Herman Goldstein to investigate if old policing tactics effectively stopped crime. It shifts policing to a scientific approach to prevent crime (Braga and Weisburd:...
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...Predictive Policing Trena Mainor Strayer University Dr. Richard Brown July 15, 2014 Predictive Policing In the current economic climate, police departments are being asked to do more with less. In some localities, significant budget reductions require police and command staff to consider reductions in the retention of sworn personnel. Personnel costs represent the single largest budget line item in most public safety organizations. The ability to use this resource more efficiently has become essential to police managers under current budgetary restrictions. Now, new tools designed to increase the effective use of police resources could make agencies more efficient, regardless of the availability of resources. As these new budgetary restraints and limitations arise, the question to ask with more urgency is: “Why just count crime when you can anticipate, prevent, and respond more effectively?” Predictive policing allows command staff and police managers to leverage advanced analytics in support of meaningful, information-based tactics, strategy, and policy decisions in the applied public safety environment. As the law enforcement community increasingly is asked to do more with less, predictive policing represents an opportunity to prevent crime and respond more effectively, while optimizing increasingly scarce or limited resources, including personnel. (Beck & McCue, 2013). About seven years ago, researchers from the University of Memphis came up with the idea...
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...Predictive Policing Anthony Smith-Ranson Strayer University Information Systems for Decision Making CIS 500 Dr. Brain Kraus July 15, 2012 Compare and contrast the application of information technology (IT) to optimize police departments’ performance to reduce crime versus random patrols of the streets. A promising new technology with the purpose of analyzing and predict crime tends before it occur. COMPSTAT is allowing police agencies to adopt innovative technologies and problem-solving techniques while empowering traditional police organizational structures. Some participants questioned whether predictive policing was, in fact, a new model. Many police department argued that good crime analysts have been practicing predictive policing for more than 40 years. (Pearsall, B. 2010 May) SINCE THE EARLY 1990s, New York City has experienced the deepest and most prolonged crime drop in recorded history. In 1994, Police Commissioner William Bratton introduced a data-driven management model in the New York City Police Department called COMPSTAT. COMPSTAT, short for computer statistics, or comparative statistics, is a strategic management philosophy used by police to approach crime reduction. COMPSTAT was created by the New York City Police Department to better deal with crime at the precinct level, based on what types and frequencies of crimes were actually happening on a regular basis. It is not a computer system or software package, but rather an organizational management...
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...Predictive Policing Duane Baskin CIS 500 – Information Systems for Decision Making July 11th, 2013 Predictive Policing Terminology usage of predictive policing offers the idea of round table discussions generated on the basis of observation by being notified of a situation and or condition of which policy is needed to aid in the governance. In general terms this would serve as a good overview or focal point for the establishment of level understanding amongst the targeted population. The alteration comes into play when predictive policing, in this context is actually connected to the police and systems of use that serve as tools to further their performance and in efforts of carrying out their mission. The idea of strategy is known as COMPTSAT (COMPuter STATistics) that utilizes Geographic Information Systems (GIS) that map locations where crimes are taking place. These areas are now identified as hotspots or problem areas. With this new historical data of crime, mathematicians have created algorithms to activate this historical data. All performed in hopes of serving police departments with capabilities of predicting future crimes. Steps within this process have the ultimate purpose to eliminate crime in advance. By observing trends, planning accordingly, and proper execution this desire can be accomplished. One source has defined predictive policing by stating “with roots in business analytics, relies on using advanced technological tools...
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...PREDICTIVE POLICING STEFANIE SHEFFIELD KEGAN SAMUEL CIS 500 APRIL 21, 2014 Compare and contrast the application of information technology (IT) to optimize police departments’ performance to reduce crime versus patrols on the street. The process of using the application of information technology (IT) to optimize police departments’ performance is known as Predictive Policing. “Predictive policing, in essence, is taking data from disparate sources, analyzing them and then using the results to anticipate, prevent and respond more effectively to future crime.” (Pearsall, 2010) This technology allows police to predict the problem areas and place officers in those areas in an effort to deter the predicted crimes. Quit simply put, it enable law enforcement agents to be proactive as opposed to reactive. “Predictive policing entails becoming less reactive. The predictive vision moves law enforcement from focusing on what happened to focusing on what will happen and how to effectively deploy resources in front of crime, thereby changing outcomes," (Pearsall, 2010) In comparison to just placing beat cops on random corners, not knowing what could occur, predictive policing is definitely enables officers to anticipate what may occur, allowing them to optimize their police resources. Describe how COMPSTAT, as an information system (IS) implements the (4) basic IS functions: Input, Processing, Output, and Feedback. “The CompStat model is a management process within a performance...
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...The police departments across the country have always struggled to keep crime of all types as low as possible for the sake of their citizens in hopes of maintaining order, peace, justice. As time has passed from low technological innovation in the 1970’s through the 1990’s into an explosion of new ideas of innovation and technology in modern times, so too has crime. This is both significant and expected based on historical data. Adding new things into the world will always create at least a minor resistance to change in which some people, namely criminals, take advantage of that fact and commit crimes. This is done partially because they are trying to beat the system to get more from it than what they put in; however, this new innovation works for more than just criminals. A powerful example of how innovation and information technology can help fight crime in an efficient, cost effective way, is through predictive policing. Predictive policing is the concept of utilizing historical data and algorithms to determine where future crimes will likely occur (Pearsall, 2010). This concept has the potential for major growth and success all over the world because it is based on historical data, which police departments have in masses (National Institute of Justice, 2012). Information technology is not only used with predictive policing, but all over the department. For instance, processing criminals into massive unified databases that are available all over the world has transformed...
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...Predictive Policing CIS 500 Information System Decision Making January 16, 2013 In an effort to effectively compare and contrast the application of information technology (IT) to optimize police departments’ performance to reduce crime versus random patrols of the streets, we first need to examine what information technology is available to police and further more what information technology means. Information technology is “the collection of computing systems used by an organization” (Turban & Volonino, 2011). According to the Omega Group, who does analysis and mapping with patrol and fire response for successful implementation strategies, the definition of predictive policing as stated by NIJ (A National Discussion on Predictive Policing) is “any policing strategy or tactic that develops and uses information and advanced analysis to inform forward-thinking crime prevention” [ (Silva, 2012) ]. Technology is used in conjunction with predictive policing to implement different information and operations such as crowd control, police patrol, early detection of repeat offenders, traffic control and management, and even neighborhood watches. Today information technology (IT) is used to optimize the performance of police departments’ and reduce crime however in the past random patrols of the streets was the way that police reduced crimes. Before the 90’s New York City had a high crime rate but since the implementation of a data driven management model named COMPSTAT the...
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...Predictive Policing Mitchell S. Zellner Dr. Kimberly Anthony, Ph.D. CIS 500 April 15, 2012 In the half past century, four policing models of law enforcement have been employed in order to prevent and reduce crime rates. The four policing models are called professional-policing era model, community policing model, intelligence-led policing (ILP), and predictive-policing model. Professional era model started in the 1960s where the strategy focus was on random patrol, rapid response, and reactive investigation. The highest priority was on rapid response time. Although this model was considered successful, there were major drawbacks. The social interaction between law officials and citizens was non-existent. Law enforcement agents had become totally dependent on technology rather than involving citizens to assist with problem solving. This model was replaced with the community policing model. This model began around the 1990s where it focused on partnership, problem solving, and prevention. The goal was to reestablish ties between law enforcement agencies and their respective communities. Together the two parties could implement strategies that would examine and resolve any major issues or concerns in the community, but most importantly regain the trust between the two entities. The 9/11 terrorist attack on the United States led to the emergence of the ILP. The Patriot Act in combination with the forming of the Homeland Security Agency was a direct result of the attacks....
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...new technology that will become available. The one key to the future of policing will not be the technology. It will be the ways which police forces will adapt to the technology to their needs. There is also the technology that will be used to predict a crime before it happens. This will help lessen the crime rates before they get out of hand. This will also reduce the agencies costs. The predictive-policing models by the police department builds, and enhances the promise of the new intelligence led policing with this new technology, new business process, and new algorithms, the predictive policing is based on the information based patrol, and the rapid response. It is supported by the preposition of assets, and the proactive, and the strategy, and police. This is the predictive policing which promises measurable results, includes the crime reduction. The more efficient police agencies, and the modern innovative of policing the predictive policing has shown to enable doing with more with less, while improving of policing outcomes through the information based tactics, strategy, and policy. The predictive policing is a new law enforcement concept which integrates the approaches such as the cutting edge crime analysis, the crime fighting technology,...
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...changing times and changing nature of crimes, their responsibilities and area of duty is changing day by day. In times of technological advancements, the nature of crimes has been changing rapidly. In order to fight crime and to maintain order, the police forces around the world have always been adapting new innovations in their arsenal. The formation of a recording mechanism and format for various crimes committed in a region was the beginning of a new era in the field or crime prevention. The data records helped to identify the repeat criminals and the nature of crime that they commit. This also helped in providing a better judgment to the convicts. With the dawn of Information Technology, these records were transferred to the systems and this made it possible for the forces around the country to share the data and access it anytime and from any location. This further strengthened the power of the forces against the intelligent criminals. At this stage the Research and Development firms in USA law enforcement agency FBI, started experimenting with the data and the predicting algorithms used by major marketing and retail chains like Wal-Mart. Their research showed results and concluded that Police can use a similar data analysis to help make their work more efficient. The idea is being called "predictive policing," and some in the field believe it has the potential to transform law enforcement by enabling police to anticipate and prevent crime instead of simply responding to it...
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...the country are trying to find ways to combat crime, this paper will address two preventive measures namely, predictive policing and compstat. “Predictive policing, in essence, is taking data from disparate sources, analyzing them and then using results to anticipate, prevent and respond more effectively to future crime,” (Pearsall, B, May 2010). It was never meant to replace police officers but to give those officers opportunities to improve policing. “The police department in Santa Cruz, California, has begun an experiment that uses a mathematical algorithm to predict when and where certain crimes will be committed, and puts police on the scene before they happen,” (Shurkin, J.N. September 13, 2011). Some years ago there was a T V show called Numbers and they solved crimes using a mathematical algorithm. The compstat model was not designed to replace police officers but to improve their jobs. “CompStat model is a management process within a performance management framework that synthesizes analysis of crime and disorder data, strategic problem solving, and a clear accountability structure,” (Weisburd 2003). These methods were designed to help police officers stop crimes before they happened. By comparing information technology to optimize performance to reduce crime versus patrolling the streets,” Compstat provided a road map to getting officers back to fighting crime. It also held police managers accountable for fighting crime,” (Willis, J. J., Mastrofski, S. S. Weisburd...
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