June 9-13 I am instructing a class in Fundamentals of Crime Analysis for the International Association of Crime Analysts. The class is in Erie, PA and there are seats available. You can register online if you are interested.
Dates: 6/9/2008 -6/13/2008
Location: Mercyhurst College (Erie, Pennsylvania)
Class Description:
Fundamentals of Crime Analysis explores the basic terms, concepts, and techniques of crime analysis. It is intended for new analysts, officers or executives charged with developing crime analysis programs, or self-taught journeyman analysts looking for formal training.
With a combination of seminar, group projects, and hands-on exercises, the class covers the functions and processes of crime analysis, the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed, proper administration of a crime analysis unit, and pointers for further training and development. The class includes an overview of the more extensive training found in the other four IACA Professional Training Series courses.
Cost:
IACA Members: $350.00
Non-Members: $395.00
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
U.S. Spies Use Custom Videogames to Learn How to Think
This article explains how the DIA is training analysts to improve critical thinking via video games.
From cup of tea to giant drug bust
This is a very nice article illustrating how the analytical work of finding trends in vehicle break-ins can lead to a major investigation.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Working Tip: Be Assertive
Here is a little quiz adapted from the link below:
How Assertive Are You?
* Do you ask for help if you need it?
* Do you express anger and annoyance appropriately?
* Do you ask questions when you're confused?
* Do you volunteer your opinions when you think or feel differently from others?
* Do you speak up fairly frequently?
* Are you able to say "no" when you don't want to do something?
* Do you speak with a generally confident manner, communicating caring and strength?
* Do you look at people when you're talking to them?
Assertiveness is important for crime and intelligence analysts. I am fairly assertive and improved in that area as years went on in my job. Note that being assertive may not get you what you want, but it is the best you can do to communicate your findings, to let others know what you need to do a good job, to set boundaries so that you are not absorbed in irrelevant work, to more clearly define a decision-makers needs by asking questions, to more clearly define a problem by asking question, to find answers by asking question....etc. etc. etc.!
How Assertive Are You?
* Do you ask for help if you need it?
* Do you express anger and annoyance appropriately?
* Do you ask questions when you're confused?
* Do you volunteer your opinions when you think or feel differently from others?
* Do you speak up fairly frequently?
* Are you able to say "no" when you don't want to do something?
* Do you speak with a generally confident manner, communicating caring and strength?
* Do you look at people when you're talking to them?
Assertiveness is important for crime and intelligence analysts. I am fairly assertive and improved in that area as years went on in my job. Note that being assertive may not get you what you want, but it is the best you can do to communicate your findings, to let others know what you need to do a good job, to set boundaries so that you are not absorbed in irrelevant work, to more clearly define a decision-makers needs by asking questions, to more clearly define a problem by asking question, to find answers by asking question....etc. etc. etc.!
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Working Tip: Time Management
My two previous posts this week are based on thinking strategically. The Pareto principle is often cited in crime analysis - asserting that 20% percent of the criminals commit 80% of the crime. The 80/20 rule applies also to your activities as an analyst - 20% of what you do results in 80% of your work.
Time management skills are valuable and learning about them, to find the tips that help you work smarter rather than harder, should be a priority. I became more efficient as I analyzed what 20% of the things I did made me most effective - and when I made those things 40% of what I did, I truly improved my work. I also eliminated many of the 80% activities. Monitor how you spend your time and what your current activities produce as outcomes to find out what you should do differently to avoid drowning in work You will be a MORE valuable worker by working smarter rather than harder.
Time management skills are valuable and learning about them, to find the tips that help you work smarter rather than harder, should be a priority. I became more efficient as I analyzed what 20% of the things I did made me most effective - and when I made those things 40% of what I did, I truly improved my work. I also eliminated many of the 80% activities. Monitor how you spend your time and what your current activities produce as outcomes to find out what you should do differently to avoid drowning in work You will be a MORE valuable worker by working smarter rather than harder.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Working Tip - Thinking Ahead
As a crime analyst, one is asked the same sort of questions on an irregular but repeating basis. Any intelligence analyst with a specific portfolio probably experiences the same phenomenon.
Although my job description did NOT include the duty to provide citizens, businesses, and community leaders with crime statistics formally, I was the person individuals were sent to with their statistics questions. These requests sometimes involved a need for data to help write generate grants - grants that would likely help the community. The data was an important need.
I solved my problem of having to do time-consuming special studies by analyzing historical crime data and then updating it every six months using GIS. I joined both Part One and Part Two UCR data (separately to speed the process) with US Census Tract data. This way I was able to obtain the crime counts by census tracts for at least the previous five years and put this data in a table. I made a document I could share with the public with instructions on how to look up the census tract they were interested in (go to www.cencus.gov - see American Factfinder on the left column and click). The document included separate tables of Part One Crime and Part Two Crime by census tract and by year. I included a map of the city census tracts.
To make this even more valuable to your law enforcement decision-makers, you could enlarge single maps of each district/precinct/area in your jurisdiction and include the years crime statistics and demographic data for each area in a brief report. This would be thinking ahead and make your work life easier in the long run. It would be a strategic analysis if you provide interpretation of the data in your report. This type of report would give you "big-picture" insight into the problem areas in your jurisdiction.
An intelligence analyst studying a certain group, such as outlaw motorcycle gangs, could do something similar - chart any data you have by each motorcycle gang by year - you will be able to show changes in known gang members by gang, changes in weapons recovered, changes in known arrests, changes, in whatever you track by quantity - and once you do it for the history of your data it is easy to update.
So pay attention to what those special requests coming across your desk have in common. What can you do to think ahead?
Although my job description did NOT include the duty to provide citizens, businesses, and community leaders with crime statistics formally, I was the person individuals were sent to with their statistics questions. These requests sometimes involved a need for data to help write generate grants - grants that would likely help the community. The data was an important need.
I solved my problem of having to do time-consuming special studies by analyzing historical crime data and then updating it every six months using GIS. I joined both Part One and Part Two UCR data (separately to speed the process) with US Census Tract data. This way I was able to obtain the crime counts by census tracts for at least the previous five years and put this data in a table. I made a document I could share with the public with instructions on how to look up the census tract they were interested in (go to www.cencus.gov - see American Factfinder on the left column and click). The document included separate tables of Part One Crime and Part Two Crime by census tract and by year. I included a map of the city census tracts.
To make this even more valuable to your law enforcement decision-makers, you could enlarge single maps of each district/precinct/area in your jurisdiction and include the years crime statistics and demographic data for each area in a brief report. This would be thinking ahead and make your work life easier in the long run. It would be a strategic analysis if you provide interpretation of the data in your report. This type of report would give you "big-picture" insight into the problem areas in your jurisdiction.
An intelligence analyst studying a certain group, such as outlaw motorcycle gangs, could do something similar - chart any data you have by each motorcycle gang by year - you will be able to show changes in known gang members by gang, changes in weapons recovered, changes in known arrests, changes, in whatever you track by quantity - and once you do it for the history of your data it is easy to update.
So pay attention to what those special requests coming across your desk have in common. What can you do to think ahead?
Monday, April 21, 2008
Working Tip - Organizing Information
This week I am going to write about things that worked (and what didn't work) for me when I was an analyst. Since I left work last year, I should do this before I forget what works when working!
It took me years to realize that it would be best if I was proactive and kept information gathered from queries on reoccurring types of crime problems that lead most often to patterns and series. The key word here is proactive and it doesn't just apply to crime pattern analysis - it would work for any type of subject,
This is how I became proactive in gathering crime pattern data:
-I made a computer folder for crime pattern tracking
-I made an Excel Workbook for each type of specific crime type I thought worthy of tracking based on my experience and knowledge. Examples: sex crimes with unknown assailants, theft of copper/metal, delivery-related robberies, vehicle break ins, cat burglars (burglars that come in your house when you are sleeping), home invasions, bank robberies, commercial burglaries, counterfeiting, impersonation, theft of construction equipment, restaurant-related crimes, etc.
-When reviewing crimes everyday in the morning I would put any crime that fell into my various specific crime pattern types and then I WOULD NEVER HAVE TO SEARCH FOR THEM AGAIN. Some crimes went into MULTIPLE categories - for example: a pizza delivery robbery committed by a masked robber might go into delivery robberies and robberies with disguises. New categories could be easily added and the historical data gathered and updated over time.
-Once the crime information was entered into my Excel spreadsheet I could code it any way I wanted, add fields, use the spreadsheets for mapping by copying the data needed and saving it elsewhere as a dbf file. Using Excel made the data very easily shared - it could be emailed to a detective (perhaps modified and copied into Word), modified and put into bulletins, etc.
-Each Excel Workbook could contain numerous spreadsheets in addition to the main data collection spreadsheet - persons arrested for this crime type, calls for service related to the crime type (gangs, guns etc), previous crime series of this type, pawn shops/scrap metal dealers, addresses for all restaurants in the city - whatever was relevant to the specific crime problem.
-This method did not REPLACE existing databases - it gave me a format to save whatever I had gathered in the past and to proactively add to the subjects whenever I had free time or needed a break from a project. I would also be able to see if I new crime pattern was emerging and identify a possible series of crime as soon as possible.
-Excel also allowed me to use pivot tables to chart the amount of crimes such as home invasions, to show what day of week, what hour, to see how many involved guns or disguise since I coded for that - all this analysis in truly less than a minute!!!
-The crime pattern tracking folder was made available to anyone working in crime analysis in our computer network and they could add to it as well - so rules had to be agreed upon. The spreadsheets always were copied and pasted elsewhere for any data analysis/use - a master spreadsheet on each subject was only added to - not changed in other ways unless the change was to improve it.
-This method gave me an opportunity to collect historical and in-depth data on crimes that I was tracking - I used my down time more effectively and also was easily able to answer questions about any of the specific subjects I was tracking. It sometimes seemed time consuming to keep up but the time invested paid off in reducing the time needed for ad hoc analysis and data searches.
This method could be use for tracking gangs or criminal groups - anything you are examining in depth for future analysis.
It took me years to realize that it would be best if I was proactive and kept information gathered from queries on reoccurring types of crime problems that lead most often to patterns and series. The key word here is proactive and it doesn't just apply to crime pattern analysis - it would work for any type of subject,
This is how I became proactive in gathering crime pattern data:
-I made a computer folder for crime pattern tracking
-I made an Excel Workbook for each type of specific crime type I thought worthy of tracking based on my experience and knowledge. Examples: sex crimes with unknown assailants, theft of copper/metal, delivery-related robberies, vehicle break ins, cat burglars (burglars that come in your house when you are sleeping), home invasions, bank robberies, commercial burglaries, counterfeiting, impersonation, theft of construction equipment, restaurant-related crimes, etc.
-When reviewing crimes everyday in the morning I would put any crime that fell into my various specific crime pattern types and then I WOULD NEVER HAVE TO SEARCH FOR THEM AGAIN. Some crimes went into MULTIPLE categories - for example: a pizza delivery robbery committed by a masked robber might go into delivery robberies and robberies with disguises. New categories could be easily added and the historical data gathered and updated over time.
-Once the crime information was entered into my Excel spreadsheet I could code it any way I wanted, add fields, use the spreadsheets for mapping by copying the data needed and saving it elsewhere as a dbf file. Using Excel made the data very easily shared - it could be emailed to a detective (perhaps modified and copied into Word), modified and put into bulletins, etc.
-Each Excel Workbook could contain numerous spreadsheets in addition to the main data collection spreadsheet - persons arrested for this crime type, calls for service related to the crime type (gangs, guns etc), previous crime series of this type, pawn shops/scrap metal dealers, addresses for all restaurants in the city - whatever was relevant to the specific crime problem.
-This method did not REPLACE existing databases - it gave me a format to save whatever I had gathered in the past and to proactively add to the subjects whenever I had free time or needed a break from a project. I would also be able to see if I new crime pattern was emerging and identify a possible series of crime as soon as possible.
-Excel also allowed me to use pivot tables to chart the amount of crimes such as home invasions, to show what day of week, what hour, to see how many involved guns or disguise since I coded for that - all this analysis in truly less than a minute!!!
-The crime pattern tracking folder was made available to anyone working in crime analysis in our computer network and they could add to it as well - so rules had to be agreed upon. The spreadsheets always were copied and pasted elsewhere for any data analysis/use - a master spreadsheet on each subject was only added to - not changed in other ways unless the change was to improve it.
-This method gave me an opportunity to collect historical and in-depth data on crimes that I was tracking - I used my down time more effectively and also was easily able to answer questions about any of the specific subjects I was tracking. It sometimes seemed time consuming to keep up but the time invested paid off in reducing the time needed for ad hoc analysis and data searches.
This method could be use for tracking gangs or criminal groups - anything you are examining in depth for future analysis.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Certified crime analyst a first for Mansfield Police Department
Click on the post title to read this article describing the work of a particular analyst.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Geography and Public Safety Newsletter
See the new Geography and Public Safety Newsletter
"The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) and the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) are excited to bring to you the premier issue of Geography and Public Safety, a quarterly newsletter that examines four substantive areas. “Practice” examines practices related to crime mapping and problem analysis; “Policy” describes policy related to the use of mapping to better understand crime; “Technical Tips” aids practioners in completing specific spatial analysis tasks. “News Briefs” and a list of upcoming geography events, such as conferences and training opportunities, complete the newsletter. This newsletter will be useful for police practitioners at all levels who are interested in geography and its relationship to crime, as well as for researchers, policy makers, and others interested in understanding the impact of geography on public safety."
Thursday, April 17, 2008
What Statistics Can Tell You and What They Can’t
This is an interesting blog post related to data analysis of murder, specifically infanticide.
Analytical Imagination: Ladder of Abstraction
"The ladder of abstraction represents the way in which human thought may move from a low level of high specificity towards levels of increasing generality and abstraction, i.e. where more and more individual details are left out."
I love humanity. It's people I can't stand!
—C. Schultz: Peanuts
Using the conceptual framework of The Ladder of Abstraction, analysts can make sure their analysis is based on observable, measurable reality (the bottom of the ladder, non-abstract, concrete things and activities) as well as move up the ladder to the highest of abstractions, theory. I think that this ladder can be used to explain the realities of differences between those who work in the field and those who are high-level decision makers. Those who are on the streets, the observers, interpret the environment and their interpretations (or recordings) are put on paper, in computers, to be used by analysts, who work at a higher level of abstraction - not touching, hearing, seeing, smelling the events which they interpret for the highest levels. Tactical operations are less abstract than strategic operations. The ladder of abstraction can be a useful tool for you, as an analyst, to make sure your analysis is as complete as possible, to understand what level of abstraction your particular "customer" needs.
Excerpt from Language in Thought and Action, by S.I. Hayakawa (fifth ed., 1990, Harcourt Brace & Company, NY, NY).
"The differences between actual and symbolic experiences are great -- one is not scarred by watching a motion-picture battle, nor is one nourished by watching people in a play having dinner. Furthermore, actual experiences come to us in highly disorganized fashion: meals, arguments with the landlady, visits to the doctor about one's fallen arches, and so on, interrupt the splendid course of romance. The novelist, however, abstracts only the events relevant to the story and then organizes them into a meaningful sequence. This business of abstracting (selecting) events and organizing them so that they bear some meaningful relationship to each other and to the central theme of a novel or play constitutes the storyteller's art."
Analysts are also "storytellers."
Example:
"Level Four: Abstractions
Examples: life, beauty, love, time, success, power, happiness, faith, hope, charity, evil, good.
Level Three: Noun classes: broad group names with little specification.
Examples: People, men, women, young people, everybody, nobody, industry, we, goals, things, television.
Level Two: Noun categories: more definite groups.
Examples: teen-agers, middle-class, clothing industry, parents, college campus, newborn child, TV comedies, house plants.
Level One: Specific, identifiable nouns.
Examples: Levi 501 jeans, my blue, three bedroom house on Hollis Street, In Living Color, Bud commercials, African violets, Tina's newborn sister, Mina."
Read General Semantics: The ladder of abstractions
YouTube Video with Explanation of Ladder of Abstraction Explanation (Religious)
Read Excerpts from Language in Thought and Action (1949) by S. I. Hayakawa
Read An Essay on Levels of Abstractions
Read Communication Skills: Using the Five Whys to Create Specific, Descriptive Verbal Messages
I love humanity. It's people I can't stand!
—C. Schultz: Peanuts
Using the conceptual framework of The Ladder of Abstraction, analysts can make sure their analysis is based on observable, measurable reality (the bottom of the ladder, non-abstract, concrete things and activities) as well as move up the ladder to the highest of abstractions, theory. I think that this ladder can be used to explain the realities of differences between those who work in the field and those who are high-level decision makers. Those who are on the streets, the observers, interpret the environment and their interpretations (or recordings) are put on paper, in computers, to be used by analysts, who work at a higher level of abstraction - not touching, hearing, seeing, smelling the events which they interpret for the highest levels. Tactical operations are less abstract than strategic operations. The ladder of abstraction can be a useful tool for you, as an analyst, to make sure your analysis is as complete as possible, to understand what level of abstraction your particular "customer" needs.
Excerpt from Language in Thought and Action, by S.I. Hayakawa (fifth ed., 1990, Harcourt Brace & Company, NY, NY).
"The differences between actual and symbolic experiences are great -- one is not scarred by watching a motion-picture battle, nor is one nourished by watching people in a play having dinner. Furthermore, actual experiences come to us in highly disorganized fashion: meals, arguments with the landlady, visits to the doctor about one's fallen arches, and so on, interrupt the splendid course of romance. The novelist, however, abstracts only the events relevant to the story and then organizes them into a meaningful sequence. This business of abstracting (selecting) events and organizing them so that they bear some meaningful relationship to each other and to the central theme of a novel or play constitutes the storyteller's art."
Analysts are also "storytellers."
Example:
"Level Four: Abstractions
Examples: life, beauty, love, time, success, power, happiness, faith, hope, charity, evil, good.
Level Three: Noun classes: broad group names with little specification.
Examples: People, men, women, young people, everybody, nobody, industry, we, goals, things, television.
Level Two: Noun categories: more definite groups.
Examples: teen-agers, middle-class, clothing industry, parents, college campus, newborn child, TV comedies, house plants.
Level One: Specific, identifiable nouns.
Examples: Levi 501 jeans, my blue, three bedroom house on Hollis Street, In Living Color, Bud commercials, African violets, Tina's newborn sister, Mina."
Read General Semantics: The ladder of abstractions
YouTube Video with Explanation of Ladder of Abstraction Explanation (Religious)
Read Excerpts from Language in Thought and Action (1949) by S. I. Hayakawa
Read An Essay on Levels of Abstractions
Read Communication Skills: Using the Five Whys to Create Specific, Descriptive Verbal Messages
Analytical Imagination: Ladder of Inference
The Ladder of Inference is a conceptual tool that can help analysts question their assumptions and realize (and thus perceive) the data that they may ignore because of their unconscious belief systems.
Read an excerpt about The Ladder of Inference from The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook. Copyright 1994 by Peter M. Senge, Art Kleiner, Charlotte Roberts, Richard B. Ross, and Bryan J. Smith.
Read The Ladder of Inference: An Introduction
See Ladder of Inference Model
Read an excerpt about The Ladder of Inference from The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook. Copyright 1994 by Peter M. Senge, Art Kleiner, Charlotte Roberts, Richard B. Ross, and Bryan J. Smith.
Read The Ladder of Inference: An Introduction
See Ladder of Inference Model
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Analytical Imagination: Spiral Dynamics
Spiral Dynamics is a conceptual framework that can help you understand how people make decisions, according the the Mind Tools website. Since analysts need to influence decision-makers, this could be important! Spiral Dynamics is a theory of human development, according to Wikipedia.
I propose that analysts could adapt this framework to improve their analytical skills - as well as to better understand their own value processes as well as those of policy-makers, commanders, officers, criminals, criminal groups, countries, cultures....
See:
Spiral Dynamics Online
A Search for Cohesion in the Age of Fragmentation
Stages of Social Development
This all may sound a bit New Age but I am suggesting that you use your imagination and look past that element and focus on the conceptual framework to understand culture and behavior - it could well enhance analytical work and its value
I propose that analysts could adapt this framework to improve their analytical skills - as well as to better understand their own value processes as well as those of policy-makers, commanders, officers, criminals, criminal groups, countries, cultures....
See:
Spiral Dynamics Online
A Search for Cohesion in the Age of Fragmentation
Stages of Social Development
This all may sound a bit New Age but I am suggesting that you use your imagination and look past that element and focus on the conceptual framework to understand culture and behavior - it could well enhance analytical work and its value
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Second Life Community: Incident Report
Just like the daily police blotter, the virtual world of Second Life maintains a daily incident report for its community. According to the Second Life Economy Blog, from 2007 to 2008 - "total user to user transactions, a measure of the gross domestic product in Second Life, grew from an annualized rate of $261 million in Q4 to just over $300 million in Q1."
After a federal investigation Second Life had to ban gambling.
Congress has feared that Second Life could be used to launder money to fund terrorism.
Analysts should become familiar with Second Life and its implications.
After a federal investigation Second Life had to ban gambling.
Congress has feared that Second Life could be used to launder money to fund terrorism.
Analysts should become familiar with Second Life and its implications.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Enhancing the Problem-Solving Capacity of Crime Analysis Units
Enhancing the Problem-Solving Capacity of Crime Analysis Units, by Matthew B. White, is a new Problem Oriented Policing Guide produced by the US Dept. Of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing.
"This guide is organized around nine fundamental concerns, framed here as questions, which must be addressed when developing a problem-solving capacity within a crime analysis unit. The starting point will vary with the existing resources within the agency and on the extent to which new resources can be deployed. The questions are as follows:
Are Your Analysts Able to Focus on their Core Analytic Function?
Are Your Analysts Learning about Problem-Oriented Policing?
Are Your Analysts Learning Problem-Solving Skills and Techniques?
Are Your Analysts Learning as a Team?
Do Your Analysts Have Adequate Technical Support?
Are Your Analysts Free to Be Objective?
Are Your Analysts Properly Integrated into the Decision-Making Process?
Is the Importance of Analysis Adequately Recognized in Your Department?
Are Your Analysts Properly Paid?"
"This guide is organized around nine fundamental concerns, framed here as questions, which must be addressed when developing a problem-solving capacity within a crime analysis unit. The starting point will vary with the existing resources within the agency and on the extent to which new resources can be deployed. The questions are as follows:
Are Your Analysts Able to Focus on their Core Analytic Function?
Are Your Analysts Learning about Problem-Oriented Policing?
Are Your Analysts Learning Problem-Solving Skills and Techniques?
Are Your Analysts Learning as a Team?
Do Your Analysts Have Adequate Technical Support?
Are Your Analysts Free to Be Objective?
Are Your Analysts Properly Integrated into the Decision-Making Process?
Is the Importance of Analysis Adequately Recognized in Your Department?
Are Your Analysts Properly Paid?"
Crime Analysis Technology Case Studies
In the 1990's, The Institute for Law and Justice sponsored research into the implementation of technology in LE agencies. While the case studies below are dated, they provide insight into the problems that still exist in implementing technology for crime and intelligence analysis.
Overland Park, Kansas, Police Department. This case study focuses on crime analysis and mapping technology ..
California Department of Justice CAL/GANG System This case study focuses on intranet technology ...
Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina. Police Department. This case study focuses on crime analysis and mapping ...
Technology Acquisition Project Case Study Jacksonville, Florida ...
This case study focuses on Intranet technology acquisitions. It is one of 18 case studies. prepared for the “Technology Acquisition Project” administered by ...
Technology Acquisition Project Case Study: Pierce County/Tacoma ...
This case study focuses on records ...
Technology Acquisition ProjectCase Study: Malden, Massachusetts ...
This case study focuses on crime analysis and mapping technology ...
Technology Acquisition Project. Case Study. Kansas Criminal Justice Information System. This case study focuses on Internet/Intranet technology acquisitions ...
Overland Park, Kansas, Police Department. This case study focuses on crime analysis and mapping technology ..
California Department of Justice CAL/GANG System This case study focuses on intranet technology ...
Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina. Police Department. This case study focuses on crime analysis and mapping ...
Technology Acquisition Project Case Study Jacksonville, Florida ...
This case study focuses on Intranet technology acquisitions. It is one of 18 case studies. prepared for the “Technology Acquisition Project” administered by ...
Technology Acquisition Project Case Study: Pierce County/Tacoma ...
This case study focuses on records ...
Technology Acquisition ProjectCase Study: Malden, Massachusetts ...
This case study focuses on crime analysis and mapping technology ...
Technology Acquisition Project. Case Study. Kansas Criminal Justice Information System. This case study focuses on Internet/Intranet technology acquisitions ...
Sunday, April 13, 2008
IALEIA Professional Services Award 2008
The photo, courtesy of David Jimenez, is of me conversing with Charles Allen, the highest ranking DHS official for intelligence and analysis, who opened the IALEIA conference in Boston last week with a speech. I thank the International Association of Law Enforcement Analysts for the IALEIA Professional Services Award 2008 - for my contribution to the field in the form of my book, Out of Bounds, available at the link at the top of the post column. Thank you! Thanks, David!
Saturday, April 12, 2008
USNORTHCOM, DHS refine relationship
"USNORTHCOM, DHS refine relationship" has interesting implications. Since DHS has a strong law enforcement component and USNORTHCOM is a military entity, new relationships of this type may cause US citizens concern, with our traditional fear of a military/police link in the US. Yet, we do need new ways of working as the world changes...
The same concept applies in thinking about the structure of US policing and the stated goal of some that we have an intelligence led policing system. Under the current model of highly fragmented policing here, ILP is impossible. Do we always have to wait for tragedy, such as 9/11/01, or disaster, such as Hurricane Katrina, or threat, such as high school shootings, to make changes to the way we work? Do we ever study how information is shared before we try to fix information sharing problems? Do we study how information is used and not used before we try to reform systems?
The same concept applies in thinking about the structure of US policing and the stated goal of some that we have an intelligence led policing system. Under the current model of highly fragmented policing here, ILP is impossible. Do we always have to wait for tragedy, such as 9/11/01, or disaster, such as Hurricane Katrina, or threat, such as high school shootings, to make changes to the way we work? Do we ever study how information is shared before we try to fix information sharing problems? Do we study how information is used and not used before we try to reform systems?
Friday, April 11, 2008
Clinton officials say the new plan would focus on “intelligence-led policing”
Clinton officials say the new plan would focus on “intelligence-led policing” ... ??? hmmmm
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Eurpol Publications
Europol has a number of interesting publications online including an EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report 2008.
Building Web Links in Mapping Applications
Chief Tom Casady has information on how to build web links in mapping applications at this blog post.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Copper Theft Information
Kris Wheaton writes about copper theft on his blog:
Sources And Methods: Law Enforcement Intel: Materials Theft Background And Resources (CSO, ISRI via LII)
Sources And Methods: Law Enforcement Intel: Materials Theft Background And Resources (CSO, ISRI via LII)
UK's Serious Organized Crime Agency
UK's Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA) "is an intelligence-led agency with law enforcement powers and harm reduction responsibilities. Harm in this context is the damage caused to people and communities by serious organised crime."
Monday, April 7, 2008
Battling burglaries a top priority
Read this article to see how the town of McMinnville in Oregon thinks hiring a part time crime analyst will help....
Friday, April 4, 2008
New Resources
Scroll down this column below blog posts to find links on a new blog section - some of these links are quite interesting. More on Second Life next week...
Graphic Resources, Tools, and Animation
* A Periodic Table of Visualization Methods
* Caricature Criminals
* Global Incident Map
* Google Earth
* Justice Mapping Center
* Maps of War
* Second Life
* Strange Maps
* Urban Cartography
Graphic Resources, Tools, and Animation
* A Periodic Table of Visualization Methods
* Caricature Criminals
* Global Incident Map
* Google Earth
* Justice Mapping Center
* Maps of War
* Second Life
* Strange Maps
* Urban Cartography
Analytical Imagination: Multi-media Analytical Products
While reading this CNN article on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s death, I was thinking about how the products of analysis in the future will be more like this interactive map with video and text than the static reports most analysts produce. What will you produce in the future?
Another example from the media is the Los Angeles Times Homicide Map. It is the type of analytical "product" that we should be able to produce as analysts but seldom, if ever, create in this type of digital, interactive format. Don't you think officers and decision-makers would find this type of intelligence useful?
Watch the video at the link at Crime Clusters in Kennewick and give some thought to the future of static mapping/reporting and the involvement of the media and citizens in the future of crime and intelligence analysis.
Another example from the media is the Los Angeles Times Homicide Map. It is the type of analytical "product" that we should be able to produce as analysts but seldom, if ever, create in this type of digital, interactive format. Don't you think officers and decision-makers would find this type of intelligence useful?
Watch the video at the link at Crime Clusters in Kennewick and give some thought to the future of static mapping/reporting and the involvement of the media and citizens in the future of crime and intelligence analysis.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Example of Work: Excellent Annual Report
Look through the Danvers Police Department's 2007 Annual Report to see the excellent work of Public Safety Analyst Christopher Bruce - who happens to be the President of the International Association of Crime Analysts. Wouldn't you want your community to have this much depth in analysis available to you?
If you know of any great examples of work available online, please email me or post a comment.
If you know of any great examples of work available online, please email me or post a comment.
MSU trains nation’s police in fight against terrorism
Listen to a podcast by David Carter, director of Michigan State University’s Intelligence Program and professor of criminal justice.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Assessing the Tradecraft of Intelligence Analysis
Assessing the Tradecraft of Intelligence Analysis is a 2008 RAND technical report by Gregory Treverton. While its focus is on the US Intelligence Community, many of the concepts covered in this report translate to challenges faced by crime and intelligence analysis in policing.
"In simple terms, the national and community leadership devalues intelligence analysis today, and the analytic community is aware of this. Policies and proclamations abound that endorse the importance of intelligence analysis, data-sharing, fusion priorities, and the like, but the will and intent to enforce them carries a political, cultural, and social price that is simply viewed as too high for the likely results. This must be fchanged if tradecraft is to serve the nation better in the future." (p.49)
"In simple terms, the national and community leadership devalues intelligence analysis today, and the analytic community is aware of this. Policies and proclamations abound that endorse the importance of intelligence analysis, data-sharing, fusion priorities, and the like, but the will and intent to enforce them carries a political, cultural, and social price that is simply viewed as too high for the likely results. This must be fchanged if tradecraft is to serve the nation better in the future." (p.49)
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Pattern Analysis Factors
This is a succinct guide to "Factors to Consider When Analyzing a Crime Pattern."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)