Police Tap IBM Predictive Tools for Crime Prevention

In the US, Charleston Police Department (CPD) is using IBM Predictive Analytics to help officers accurately evaluate and forecast crime patterns.

Over the past five years, the City of Charleston has put in place a crime analysis system using weekly meetings to identify 'hot spots', and new technology to capture and disseminate information to increase officer awareness. The system includes IBM i2 Coplink, which organizes and provides access to vast quantities of disparate data, as well as IBM SPSS predictive analytics technology, which analyzes past and present crime records and evaluates incident and arrest patterns throughout the city.

While the initial focus of the project is to reduce robberies, the CPD plans to broaden the scope to offer a more 'holistic' view of where crime is trending and to enable the department to deploy officers from its staff of more than 400 to these areas to prevent crimes before they occur.

CPD says burglaries often cluster in terms of time and location, and that the individuals committing these crimes tend to have predictable patterns, with incidents usually taking place near their homes or familiar locations.

Chief of Police, Gregory Mullen, comments: 'Having worked with the IBM team to initiate the pilot project using the predictive analytics technology, we are already seeing the potential value from this approach. It will help us provide critical information to the officers in the field and will allow us to gain greater insight across operations to improve public safety.'

Web sites: Charleston Police and www.ibm.com .