Predictive Policing

Dr. Janet Durgin
Information Systems for Decision Making
October 20, 2013

Introduction Predictive policing refers to any policing strategy or tactic that develops and uses and advanced analysis to inform forward-thinking crime prevention. predictive policing is done through software called PredPol. It takes crime data, runs it through an algorithm, and then generates these maps. The maps tell police where crimes might happen –- before they take place.
Police can spend extra time in the areas at risk for crime, the thinking goes, and prevent those crimes from ever occurring. This paper will Compare and contrast the application of information
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The examination of crime and internal police department processes allows for the reengineering of those processes in response to crime, an action that can produce significant public safety gains not only in terms of reducing crime but also in increasing effectiveness in various other essential police performance measures.

3. Determine how information systems have allowed police departments that implement tools such as COMPSTAT to respond to crime faster. The core elements of this method have allowed officers to proactively target emerging crime trends rather than just reacting to them. Police managers are given the authority to deploy their resources to get the desired results, and are held accountable for those results. Intelligence, or information on criminal activity, is essential to respond to any problem or crisis. As the police improve their methods of collecting information about criminal activity, it becomes more and more important to distill and refine that volume of data into information that can be used at all levels of the Police Department. Computer software such as geographic information systems
(GIS) and advanced analytical techniques are used to condense and summarize current crime information to produce intelligence that is accurate and timely, greatly assisting in targeting crime in the early stages. This information allows for police resources to be directed to the exact problem as quickly as possible.