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The Following article was written by Cory Beyer, Crime Analyst for the League City, Texas, Police Department:
![League City, TX League City, Texas](https://i0.wp.com/pics4.city-data.com/cpicc/cfiles32549.jpg)
League City, Texas
Law enforcement, like all aspects of life, has been revolutionized by technological advances. The technologies we may take for granted now, such as the automobile, radio and telephone, once transformed policing in major ways. Police cars, first used in 1910, increased efficiency by having officers respond more quickly to emergencies. Radios replaced call boxes in 1928 which increase the effective range of a patrolman by freeing them from stationary boxes. Telephones later developed into 911 dispatching, allowed for easier access to police services during times of crisis. When looking back on these innovations it is easy to see the impact they have had. The League City Police Department is committed to identifying new and useful technologies that will have a greater impact on crime and the fear of crime. This September, the League City Police Department has incorporated two innovative web-based programs, CrimeReports.com and Command Central. Both programs will lead to new and exciting developments in police services.
The first is a web-based program accessible to the public called CrimeReports.com. This program was created by the developers for the purpose of making real time crime statistics available to the local citizenry. The program publishes crime data from the League City Police Department’s databases into an interactive mapping website. The police department’s goal is to put near-real time data into the public’s hands so informed decisions can be made by the citizens. One of the more exciting features of the program offers an option for sending daily, weekly or monthly email alerts to League City residents about criminal activity in their neighborhood. The department also expects a new level of collaboration will develop between the citizens and the police as crime and disorder problems become readily assessable for analysis by the public. Please review our efforts at CrimeReports.com and register your name for crime alerts concerning your neighborhood.
The second technological feature being implemented is called Command Central from the makers of CrimeReports.com. Command Central is a web-based analytical program made only accessible to League City police officers. The program puts real-time data into the hands of officers as they patrol their designated areas. Command Central could possibly do the work of three or four paid analysts. Now, officers can instantly substantiate or refute their suspicions with empirical data. This reduces the time spent studying crime problems and increases the problem-solving capabilities of the entire department. One feature of the program gives officers a “normal” crime range by assessing past crime data. Officers can then address emerging trends and patterns when crimes exceed the “normal” range by developing dynamic action plans tailored to contend with the specific problem.
The League City Police Department is committed to forming and promoting partnerships with the residents, businesses, and guests of League City and to providing the greatest services possible. To meet this goal, we are vigorously searching out new technologies that have the potential of revolutionizing law enforcement. Programs such as CrimeReports.com will cultivate a new contract between the citizens and the police as we both explore new and creative solutions to crime, the fear of crime, disorder, and decay. It is our intent to keep the League City Police Department on the leading edge of progress to better serve you.
Get on the crime map at CrimeReports.com
According to the Daily Express, a brand new national crime map covering England and Wales launched today. The new website, http://maps.police.uk/, covers all streets in England and Wales, replacing an existing system of individually maintained crime mapping websites by local police agencies. Any citizen can go to the website and search for crime information in their neighborhood.
The new system has experienced a few problems, though. According to the Daily Express, citizens in London, Manchester, and Yorkshire were unable to access the map on its first day up. The home office is working on the problem and hopes that the entire map will be accessible to all citizens as soon as the problem is fixed.
Get on the crime map at CrimeReports.com
The Toronto Star created a map this week that shows the frequency of drug charges per 1,000 residents, according to neighborhoods throughout the city. The neighborhoods are color-coded according to drug arrest data between 2004-2008. Not living in Toronto, it’s hard for me to jump to any conclusions about the insights that a map like this might offer. However, in general, I think it’s safe to say that a map like this might be useful for residents of the city who want to avoid high-crime areas and steer their children clear of those neighborhoods where they might be most likely to find drug dealers and drug use.
You can experience the map for yourself at The Toronto Star website.
Get on the crime map at CrimeReports.com
“We need to do information sharing.”
—Mark Marshall, IACP 2nd Vice President, Chief, Smithfield PD, VA
The data sharing model shifting from “Why do you need to know? to Why aren’t you sharing your data?”
—Scott Edson, Captain, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept., CA
The National Data Exchange Program (N-DEx) has been created by the FBI in an effort to compile investigative data from across the country into a database that law enforcement agencies (local, state, and federal) can access. This national data-sharing program is built to improve data sharing, and investigation across the country. N-DEx is the first attempt at creating a national database of searchable investigative data for all law enforcement agencies to use.
So far, the program has been limited in success to the handful of agencies that are participating. The FBI wants to change that. They want all law enforcement agencies across the US to send data to N-DEx.
Process
When talking about data sharing, there will always be concerns about who has the data, who controls it, and what will be done with it once it is out of a law enforcement agency’s hands. Here are some aspects of the system that may help ease worries over those questions:
You decide what you share—participating agencies completely control the information and crime types they want to share with the FBI and the rest of the N-DEx system.
No server access—The N-DEx system has no direct access to your data. You create a UI with your CAD/RMS vendor(s) to automatically send data to state data sharing centers in the form of an XML file.
No Intelligence—You agency only uploads investigative/incident-level data. You do not need to upload any analysis or intelligence on that data whatsoever.
Cost
The panel was very vague on cost, mainly because the FBI does not actually facilitate the data transfer. The consensus of the panel was that each agency should work with their CAD/RMS vendors to create an N-DEx interface that can query the data, compile the data, and send it to state data collection agencies. One panelist said that, if done right, the cost could be as little as under $50 thousand.
Share the Data
Overall, the panelists encouraged all chiefs and departments to share data. If all agencies are sharing data across jurisdictions, then all agencies will have the information they need about offenders who have records or incidents in other areas, enabling law enforcement everywhere to make connections they couldn’t before when they were only using their own, single-agency data.
Panelists:
Brian Edgell, Deputy Program Manager, N-DEx, FBI
Scott Edson, Captian, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept., CA
Mark Marshall, IACP 2nd Vice President, Chief, Smithfield PD, VA
Pamela Scanlon, Executive Director, Automated Regional Justice Information System, San Diego, CA
Get on the crime map at CrimeReports.com
From a presentation given by David C. Williams, former police officer & Village Manager, Village of Itsaca, IL
Current economic troubles are leaving law enforcement with less resources to do the job that the community expects from them. But with fewer resources, how does law enforcement keep the same level of service? Increased taxes? Increased fees? Need-based, government grant money that has already run out? The answer lies in reaching out to community members to help police their own communities.
The Community Belong to the Community Members
The community belongs to the community members. As such, community members should take some responsibility in keeping their own community safe. Given that law enforcement officers are not the majority or those committing crime in the community (hopefully they represent 0% of the crime in the community), they should not be the only people keep communities safe.
Instead of investing more money in officers and more staff to cover the community, start investing time in volunteer community partnerships. Community partnerships are a force multiplier, and they cost nothing but time and effort. And when community members volunteer, they take ownership in their communities.
Engage Your Community
There are many people in your community that want to help you keep their communities safe, but many of them don’t know what programs are available, how they can help, or even where to start. Many don’t volunteer simply because they have not been asked and don’t know that there is a need. The key to solving that problem is engaging your community.
Community Policing is an Integral Part of All Policing Efforts
As Sheriff Lee Baca, Los Angeles County Sheriff, has said: community policing efforts should go hand in hand with CompStat. That is, community policing efforts are not just an aspect of policing—a program of the department—they are an integral part of all policing efforts.
Creating an integrated community volunteer partnership make take some extra work and may require the chief to wear two hats: one for sworn officers and one as a citizen volunteer manager. But the effects of a community partnership are a more engaged citizenry that has a stake in its own community and a voluntary force multiplier that allows law enforcement to provide the same level of service that community members expect without spending all the extra dollars.
Get on the crime map at CrimeReports.com
Two police chiefs and a deputy commissioner for a state police force presented case studies of incidents that happened in their departments and how their communities had lost trust in law enforcement as a result. The bulk of their individual sections were about how they dealt with the incidents in order to rebuild community trust. Here are a few main takeaways:
Clear Guidelines and Practices—One of the worst things a department can do to break community trust is to not be consistent and fair in all their internal affairs investigations. If you are consistent then the public will trust you.
Community Outreach and Education—As one panelist said, “It’s not about what you are doing to solve the problem, it’s what you tell the public you are doing” that builds trust. If you are pouring time, money, and resources into solving an issue, and the public doesn’t know about it, they still won’t trust you. You have to give the public a clear picture of your plan to deal with the situation and let them know how the investigation and reforms are coming.
Transparency and Open Communication—Again, the more you communicate with the public, the more trust they will have trust in you and your department. If you provide the public with progress reports and a clear line of communication they won’t feel like you are hiding anything or are purposely keeping them in the dark.
Independent Oversight of Internal Affairs—Why should the public trust an internal affairs investigation, if your department does not answer to anyone outside the department? Creating independent oversight committees lets the public know that you are being fair, honest, and open.
“If we don’t take care of business, others will”—Basically, if you are not putting the practices and policies in place for a solid, open, and fair internal affairs department someone else will. Maybe it will be a lawyer who sues the department. Maybe it will be a civil rights or police “watchdog” group. Maybe it will be the city council or state legislature. If you are transparent about your practices and have real, efficient practices and policies in place, others will see that you have things under control and won’t try to do your reform for you.
Overall, the main theme of the session was that internal affairs is a tool for public trust. The public trusts organizations that can take care of their own problems through transparent, consistent, processes with independent, external oversight. Those practices combined with community outreach and education give the public avenues to pursue complaints, get information, and feel that their department is working for them and with them, not against them.
Panelists:
John Brown, Deputy Commissioner Pennsylvania State Police
John Firman, Director, Research Division, IACP
Mark Perez, Deputy Chief, Professional Standards Bureau, Los Angeles Police Department
Get on the crime map at CrimeReports.com