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The Following article was written by Cory Beyer, Crime Analyst for the League City, Texas, Police Department:
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
Christa Miller, contributing blogger and Cops 2.0 maven, recently posted some great thoughts for law enforcement agencies who have avoided blogging: why not try podcasting?
She covers the difference between blogging and podcasting, as well as some of the advantages of podcasting for chiefs and command staff who are more comfortable talking than they are writing. Although in some respects podcasting might take more effort than blogging, it can also have more far-reaching effects and put your agency on the cutting edge of technology. Check out the entire story here.
Get on the crime map at CrimeReports.com
With the news that the Winter Garden Police Department has released its own interactive crime map, Florida’s WKMG (channel 6) website has compiled a list of the police departments and sheriff’s offices that have adopted crime mapping as an effective way to communicate local crime information to the public.(Click here to see the list)
Currently 22 Florida law enforcement agencies publish their crime data through CrimeReports, including St. Petersburg, Daytona Beach, Atlantic Beach, and Fort Myers, with more joining in the next few weeks.
The WKMG list is not comprehensive, but it does give a good picture of the way that Florida is quickly adopting crime mapping statewide. If you live in Florida or are interested in various crime mapping interfaces, check out the list or go to CrimeReports.com and click on Florida.
Get on the crime map at CrimeReports.com
Mike Waraich, manager of the Law Enforcement 2.0 LinkedIn group, has recently started a new podcast focused on the use of social media and web 2.0 technology in law enforcement. The penetration of web 2.0 tools and social media in law enforcement extends from community policing and outreach to recruitment, management, communication, and more. And use of these technologies in law enforcement is growing rapidly across the country.
In the inaugural podcast, Mike talks to Christa Miller, a contributor to The Crime Map, and Lauri Stevens, manager of ConnectedCOPS.net, about government use of social media and implementing social media in investigative processes. You can read more about he podcast here, subscribe to an RSS feed for the podcast here, or listen to the first podcast right now here.
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
Although law enforcement agencies across the nation are creating Facebook and Twitter accounts and signing up with Nixle, there are still many agencies who are resistant to the idea of adopting social media for community policing. Some are intimidated by creating a social media strategy from scratch; others are still skeptical of the “open” communication that social media creates and are afraid of losing control of their message and information.
Current Media
I recently had a conversation with a traditional—print—media journalist who informed me that social media still doesn’t have as large a reach as newspapers and broadcast news. In his mind, traditional forms of media are more effective law enforcement communication tools partly because they have a greater reach. Understandably, many law enforcement agencies look at circulation and traditional media’s reach and see no need to venture into the untested social media waters when only a fraction of their citizens are using the latest technologies.
However, only looking at current usage and reach leaves us blinded as to what will happen in the future. At a recent IACP 2009 presentation, Dr. Donald J. Loree, Center for Criminal Intelligence Research and Innovation, RCMP, pointed out that law enforcement agencies cannot remain static. In order to better anticipate the needs of the community, law enforcement agencies need to pay attention to shifting populations and demographics.
A Changing Demographic
Today, I read an interesting article on social media addiction. But my interest in the article has less to do with addiction, per se, and more to do with the age groups that are using social media on a regular basis. For example:
- 56% of those under 35 check Facebook 1-10 times a day, and 27% check it more than 10 times a day.
- 65% of those under 35 check Facebook at work, while only 29% of those over 35 checked it at work.
- 54% of those under 35 check Facebook on a desktop or laptop computer, but 81% of those over 35 did so.
- 46% of those under 35 checked Facebook on their phone, but only 19% of those over 35 did.
- Of those under 35 with a Twitter account, almost 40% checked it more than 10 times a day.
These statistics point to a large generational divide between “younger” and “older” social media users. Not only are younger users checking their social media accounts more often, but they are increasingly doing so on their phones and other mobile devices. Sure, the 45+ group might be the fastest growing demographic on Facebook, but they’re not using the site nearly as much as their younger counterparts.
Social Media is not a Fad
Some may say that Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms are just a fad. In fact, back in 2000, I talked with the owner of a local internet provider in south Texas who was of the opinion that the internet was just a fad and that it would soon “go the way of the ham radio” (true story!). But social media is not a fad. It is quickly becoming the main communication and information gathering tool for many people under 35. As that population ages, they will take these platforms and channels of communication with them.
Is your department simply providing what they need to provide at the moment, or is it looking to the future and beginning to use the media channels that your future citizens are already using?
Get on the crime map at CrimeReports.com
Just recently, LAwS Communications, web solutions for law enforcement, announced the first Social Media in Law Enforcement (SMILE) Conference. Now the official SMILE conference website is up and running with more details about the upcoming conference.
The conference will be held in Washington, DC, April 7-9, 2010 at the Washington Court Hotel on Capitol Hill. The conference will include workshops, plenary sessions, and a town hall-like meeting to discuss issues concerning social media and law enforcement.
Get information for submitting a presentation proposal, registration information, and an early conference schedule here: http://cooloftheweek.typepad.com/social_media_in_law_enfor/
Get on the crime map at CrimeReports.com
The recent International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Conference was a huge success for CrimeReports. While there, we did hundreds of demonstrations of CrimeReports and our robust analytics tool, Command Central. Especially cool was the use of an interactive smartboard for our Command Central demonstrations. Playing around with it makes you feel like Tom Cruise in Minority Report. Check out Command Central’s sweet features in the video below.
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 story published at the BBC’s dot.life:
The [Gov 2.0] effort is being largely led by the US tech gang of chief technology officer Aneesh Chopra, chief information officer Vivek Kundra, Federal Communications Commission chair Julius Genachowski and director of new media Macon Phillips.
But at ground level, it is the likes of Greg Whisenant – the founder and chief executive officer of Crime Reports – who are trying to do useful things with the data.
Read the full story here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2009/09/government_20_in_action.html
Get on the crime map at CrimeReports.com
Stumble It!
The Crime Map 