Council hears Police Department rationale for hiring crime analysts

Council hears Police Department rationale for hiring crime analysts

An agency sees the value of analysts as force multipliers....

Future Crimes Blog

Future Crimes: Anticipating Tomorrow's Crimes Today is an interesting site. Check it out! Analysts should be prepared to detect new crime trends, even if they seem to be far off in the future....

Ordinary Measures, Extraordinary Results: An Assessment of Foiled Plots Since 9/11

Ordinary Measures, Extraordinary Results: An Assessment of Foiled Plots Since 9/11

"This report analyzes 32 attacks that were thwarted since 9/11 to determine which factors led to the plots’ successful disruption. The report finds that in the majority of cases, traditional law enforcement techniques and methods developed prior to 9/11, direct and indirect action by concerned citizens, and international law enforcement cooperation contributed significantly to identifying terrorists and preventing attacks. It also finds that post-9/11 legislation and methods were instrumental in disrupting terror plots in only a relatively small number of cases." Read more....

Making the Analytic Review Process Work

Making the Analytic Review Process Work: Toward a Stronger Intelligence Product by Martin Petersen

This article applies to national intelligence products and process, but by reading this we can get some ideas for law enforcement intelligence products and process as well. Why do we have so little review of our products in local level crime and intelligence analysis? I have some answers, but what do you think?

Blog Update

I am no longer going to be looking actively for things to post on this blog. If I run across an article or resource appropriate to the blog, I will post it. I encourage my students to explore the blog for resources and information about crime and intelligence analysis. Thank you readers, for visiting this site. Keep up the good work in developing the profession!

Whodunnit? An article about Profiling

Whodunnit? Criminal profilers were once the heroes of police work, nailing offenders with their astonishing psychological insights. So why did it all fall apart?

Interesting....

Japan’s Elderly Crime Triples on Isolation, Economy

Japan’s Elderly Crime Triples on Isolation, Economy
Worth reading - we usually read about crime against the elderly, not the elderly committing crime. Will this be a trend in the future in the U.S.?

DHS I&A Chief Outlines New Vision; Lawmakers Skeptical

DHS I&A Chief Outlines New Vision; Lawmakers Skeptical

Interesting!

500 euro notes withdrawn over organised crime fears

500 euro notes withdrawn over organised crime fears

This is a great example of an anti-crime strategy that does not involve apprehension of criminals.

Arrests for burglaries are up, but the crimes have gone down

Arrests for burglaries are up, but the crimes have gone down

"Strickland credits the agency’s action plan, which includes more crime analysis and mapping, visits to every burglary scene by detectives, a revamped pawn shop database and a reward fund." Read more....

Modern-day Rapunzel charged with 50 break-ins

Modern-day Rapunzel charged with 50 break-ins

Read the whole article...

Techniques You Can Take Home

Techniques You Can Take Home is a handout by by Christopher Bruce that may give you a few good ideas if you are a working analyst....

Focus: Cleveland missing persons list now available online

Focus: Cleveland missing persons list now available online

Sometimes the simplest things a crime analysis unit can do make a lot of sense and prove quite useful to the community.

Sleuthing out Burnaby's hot spots

Sleuthing out Burnaby's hot spots is a great article highlighting real-world efforts to effectively use crime analysis in crime reduction initiatives.

FDLE intelligence analyst gets caught snooping in a work database

FDLE intelligence analyst gets caught snooping in a work database

Don't do this.

Crime Mapping Evolution - 10 Trends Driving More Effective Law Enforcement

Crime Mapping Evolution - 10 Trends Driving More Effective Law Enforcement

Thanks to John Markovic for posting this link on the geography-and-crime@googlegroups.com listserv.

Information Sharing: Exploring the Intersection of Policing with National and Military Intelligence

Information Sharing: Exploring the Intersection of Policing with National and Military Intelligence, by Gary Cordner and Kathryn Scarborough, from HOMELAND SECURITY AFFAIRS, VOLUME VI, NO. 1 (JANUARY 2010) WWW.HSAJ.ORG.

"This article explores the intersection of (1) policing and police intelligence with (2) national intelligence and military intelligence. The premise is that for more than 150 years, prior to the events of September 11, 2001, police intelligence had little connection to national or military intelligence. Basically, national intelligence focused on serious world-wide political and economic threats to the nation’s well-being; military intelligence focused specifically on military threats to the national security; the police focused their intelligence work on criminals who posed threats to individuals and local communities. A fairly clear division of labor was in place, based largely on the type and scale of threats.

Since 9/11, however, it has become plausible that a small group of non-state actors, such as terrorists, could launch a serious attack against the nation using weapons of mass destruction, or even small arms, as in Mumbai. These individuals might live in a local U.S. community or halfway across the world, yet plan and execute a massive and violent attack against a local U.S. community. They might also commit ordinary crimes to help finance their larger intentions. In this new context of terrorism and asymmetric threats, a local police department might develop intelligence of significant interest to national and military intelligence, or vice versa.

Important historical, conceptual, and policy issues associated with the intersection of national, military, and police intelligence are discussed more fully elsewhere.1 This article presents the results of a small-scale study in which subject matter experts were asked to respond to several scenarios related to intelligence and information sharing, asking both what should happen and what would actually happen." Read more...

Obama's 'Intelligence Czar' Plugs a New Counterterrorism Catchphrase

Obama's 'Intelligence Czar' Plugs a New Counterterrorism Catchphrase

Than you Dalene Duvenage for bringing this to my attention through your newsletter, SA Intelligencer.

As Cellular Service Expands in Subways, Thefts Rise

As Cellular Service Expands in Subways, Thefts Rise

Here's an article that may be helpful to some crime analysts...as well of any of you that own a smart phone.

The Future of Policing (and the future of analytical products)

This Youtube video was posted on The Crime Map blog by James Gunter. I think all analysts should watch it!

Analysts in the News

Analyst helps to find criminals

Civilian number crunchers get results for RCMP

Abbotsford police surprised to identify more than 130 gangsters

Abbotsford police surprised to identify more than 130 gangsters

Analysis in the news...

Mexico may cut millions of cellphones to fight crime

Mexico may cut millions of cellphones to fight crime

Interesting development...

TALKING STRATEGY: The New Intelligence-Driven FBI

TALKING STRATEGY: The New Intelligence-Driven FBI

PROBLEM SOLVING AND INTELLIGENCE LED POLICING An Analytical Point of View

PROBLEM SOLVING AND INTELLIGENCE LED POLICING An Analytical Point of View is a paper by April Lee, Fort Pierce Police Department, Florida Department of Law Enforcement Analyst Academy Class X, June 2008.

Amid pressure, Rochester police plan 'community action team'

Amid pressure, Rochester police plan 'community action team'

Intelligence led policing in the news...

Metaphorically Speaking: The Black Swan

Black Swan theory, as developed in the book The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, uses the black swan as a metaphor for a rare event with an extreme impact that we, as humans, try to explain in terms of predictability after the fact. We do so because we want certainty in an uncertain world. 

Crime and intelligence analysis would benefit from employing this metaphor to explore how we react to events without considering outliers using sophisticated critical thinking. Unusual events have significant impact on the growth and trajectory of the field of crime and intelligence analysis. Consider a few examples: a group of men hijacking several planes on September 11, 2001, two teenagers in Columbine acting out their psychological disturbances, and the price of copper rising in China influencing the types and rates of burglaries and larcenies in every city in the United States. 

We cannot predict black swans. We know they will occur. 

Lessons from the Battle Over D.A.R.E.

Lessons from the Battle Over D.A.R.E.: The Complicated Relationship between Research and Practice

This report from the Center for Court Innovation will be of interest to some crime analysts who help their agencies keep up-to-date with the latest research. Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E) has been a controversial issue and used as an example of how police agencies are unwilling to apply results of research evidence in their practice. Since crime analysis often seeks to apply research evidence to influence decision-makers, perhaps there are lessons to be learned in this study beyond those that apply to D.A.R.E.

"As this paper details, the D.A.R.E. story is more complicated than it appears at first glance. In fact, a strong case can be made that many of the local communities that have chosen to retain D.A.R.E. in the face of scholarly criticism had good reasons for doing so. For many policymakers, the only question that matters when it comes to crime prevention is a simple one: does this program work or not? As the D.A.R.E. story indicates, the reality is almost always more complicated than this. D.A.R.E. is a case study not in black and white verdicts but in shades of grey."

Drugs, terrorism and shadow banking

Drugs, terrorism and shadow banking highlights "a legal loophole that allows money launderers to get around the requirement that cash or “monetary instruments” (share certificates, travellers’ cheques, money orders etc.) in excess of $10,000 must be declared on entering or leaving the United States." Criminals easily bypass the law because it is "perfectly legal to carry, say, $50,000 embedded in the magnetic stripes of so-called pre-paid stored-value cards."

Razing Expectations: Erecting a Strategic Vision for Fusion Centers

Razing Expectations: Erecting a Strategic Vision for Fusion Centers
~the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Homeland Security Committee

National Drug Threat Assessment 2010

National Drug Threat Assessment 2010

"This report provides policymakers, law enforcement executives, resource planners, and counterdrug program coordinators with strategic intelligence regarding the threat posed to the United States by the trafficking and abuse of illicit drugs. The assessment highlights strategic trends in the production, transportation, distribution, and abuse of illegal and controlled prescription drugs. It also presents strategic intelligence regarding the operational trends and tendencies of drug trafficking organizations and street gangs that distribute illegal drugs and highlight drug trafficking trends along the Southwest Border."

Metaphorically Speaking: Engineering

"Engineering is the discipline, art and profession of acquiring and applying technical, scientific, and mathematical knowledge to design and implement materials, structures, machines, devices, systems, and processes that safely realize a desired objective or invention." ~Wikipedia 

What could the field crime and intelligence analysis learn from engineering? As I listened to the radio last week (not sure what show), there was a discussion about the difference between science and engineering. The speaker stated that scientists observe phenomena in order to create new knowledge, whereas engineers seek to solve problems in the real-world. Maybe we should take a step back from the science approach often used in crime analysis and our social sciences, and think more about taking an engineering mindset to our work. In fact, that is one of my pet peeves about the discipline of criminal justice. We stress understanding above action. Studying crime and criminal justice systems is not enough. Designing workable systems and new ways to prevent crime in the real world to help people appeals to me much more.

How can we build a better structure to support the work of law enforcement analysts?

Bank Robbers Online

See http://bandittracker.com/ for wanted bank robber photos and details. The first page will refer to Texas, but if you scroll down to the right you will see other areas of the country that are participating, with federal, state, and local law enforcement agency cooperation, in using this site to help find bank robbers and catch them.

Crime analyst featured in textbook

Crime analyst featured in textbook

Very nice!

Indecent exposure: Police analyzing crime data to catch flasher(s)

Indecent exposure: Police analyzing crime data to catch flasher(s)

Metaphorically Speaking: Cookbook

Mercyhurst College's Department of Intelligence Studies put together the "Analyst's Cookbook," (later post update - the 2nd edition is now available on Kindle). The description states: "You can think of each chapter as a recipe, if you wish."

If we explore the concept of analysis in policing using "cookbook" as a metaphor, we might achieve a more comprehensive of understanding of analysis itself. One of the obstacles to growth in the field is the misunderstandings that occur between analysts. The local level crime tactical crime analyst, the homeland security analyst, the intelligence analyst supporting investigations and prosecutions, the Compstat analyst - all have different missions. 

Many cookbooks are divided into different categories such as appetizers, meats, vegetables, breads , desserts, and beverages. Analysis is divided into different categories depending on the ingredients and the results desired. Just as all the recipes in a specific category of food result in dishes based on the food type, all the work in a specific branch of analysis results in products based on the category of analysis. 

While not all recipes involve cooking per se, food preparation recipes are found in a cookbook. The broad category called cooking contains many various activities and outcomes, with producing edible outcomes as the common denominator. Analysis in policing is one broad category, containing many different types of analysis, dependent on the outcomes desired and the ingredients. 

A good chef can cook all sorts of foods - some become experts in baking or barbecuing but they know there are others things to cook. A good analyst can analyze in a variety of scenarios - yet many analysts don't know that what they are doing is just one part of a larger process that contains many categories. This fact keeps of fragmented and unaware of our potential. It's time to wake up and smell the coffee!

And maybe cook up something new.

Washington D.C. Police Confront Homeland Security Challenges

Washington D.C. Police Confront Homeland Security Challenges

Thanks to David Jimenez for posting this interesting article link on the International Association of Crime Analysts listserv.

I3C 2009 Internet Crime Report

The Internet Crime Complaint Center (I3C) 2009 Internet Crime Report

"From January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) Web site received 336,655 complaint submissions. This was a 22.3% increase as compared to 2008 when 275,284 complaints were received. Of the 336,655 complaints submitted to IC3, 146,663 were referred to local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies around the country for further consideration. The vast majority of referred cases contained elements of fraud and involved a financial loss by the complainant. The total dollar loss from all referred cases was $559.7 million with a median dollar loss of $575. This is up from $264.6 million in total reported losses in 2008." Read more....

City bureau now has crime data analyst

City bureau now has crime data analyst is a great article about a crime analyst.

State fusion centers look to expand beyond counterterrorism efforts

State fusion centers look to expand beyond counterterrorism efforts

Behind the scenes, crafting the US no-fly list

Behind the scenes, crafting the US no-fly list

Project Folkstone leads to numerous arrests, recovery of illegal weapons and drugs

Project Folkstone leads to numerous arrests, recovery of illegal weapons and drugs

"Using the Intelligence Led Policing (ILP) approach, Project Folkstone focussed on a criminal organization involved in a cross-border gun smuggling operation that specialized in the trafficking of illegal guns in the GTA. The investigation revealed that this criminal organization was illegally smuggling guns into Canada from the U.S. in addition to trafficking various drugs including cocaine, heroin and marihuana."

Intelligence Community Virtual Career Fair

Intelligence Community Virtual Career Fair
Register at this link.

"The United States Intelligence Community (IC), an integrated network of agencies that work together to protect our Nation's security, is seeking a culturally diverse, technically savvy workforce for exciting careers in a number of fields. Join us at the IC Virtual Career Fair to explore career opportunities, chat with recruiters, and apply for job openings - all from the comfort of your computer!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010 | 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. ET

The IC Virtual Career Fair will offer hundreds of career opportunities available in a diverse array of disciplines, including:

* Cybersecurity/Information Assurance
* Engineering and Physical Science
* Foreign Languages*
* Information Technology
* Intelligence Analysis
* Law Enforcement
* Many others

Note: The majority of positions are located in the Baltimore/Washington, DC area. Not all opportunities are available at all agencies.
*Proficiency in one of the following languages is highly desirable - Arabic, Dari, Farsi, Mandarin, Pashto, Somali, or Urdu.

At the IC Virtual Career Fair you will be able to:

* Visit virtual booths for Intelligence Community agencies
* Chat with recruiters in real time
* Apply to job openings
* Network with other job seekers
* Watch live presentations
* Download electronic brochures and videos

Best of all there are no travel expenses and suits are not required!

The following Intelligence Community Agencies will be participating in the event:

* Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
* Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)
* Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
* Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
* National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA)
* National Reconnaissance Office (NRO)
* National Security Agency (NSA)
* Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI)
* Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI)"

Metaphorically Speaking: Differential Diagnosis

"Common things happen commonly." ~Anonymous

The process of differential diagnosis has some applications to crime and intelligence analysis. Differential diagnosis in medicine often refers to a systematic rather than intuitive approach to diagnosing medical conditions. To begin, the physician considers the most common cause for a problem (a set of one or more symptoms) and will rule that out first, before going on to explore the next likely explanation, as so on, as needed, until a correct diagnosis can be made.

In crime and intelligence analysis we have defined no such systematic process. Here is an example of how we might follow this type of process unconsciously (without naming it):

We see a cluster of robberies on a map and decide could be a series, especially if the crimes occur in a low-robbery area. But we cannot stop there and create a bulletin until we run more "tests" to see if our initial "diagnosis" is correct. We may read the reports to look for similar modus operandi - suspect descriptions, weapons, victims, etc. Suppose we do so and find that the crimes seem unrelated? Often we might then ignore the cluster, since we cannot explain it by the most obvious "diagnosis." However, we may examine the "set of symptoms" further and search for more explanations. What might be the next likely explanation? Knowing your jurisdiction will help you here. Suppose we know that there are a number of bars/taverns in that area? Perhaps are next "diagnosis" would be related to the density of crime risk facilities - those that promote alcohol use. We study further to see if that explains the cluster of robberies. If we rule out that diagnosis - say the robberies are occurring at 10 AM and seem unrelated to those establishments, we then look for another cause. A recent parolee released into the community may be the next "diagnosis." The analysts then searches information to find out if this explanation is the correct "diagnosis." As we move into less obvious explanations, the analytical work often becomes more time-consuming. Intelligence information is needed to make the correct diagnosis - a gang has set up shop in the neighborhood and gang members are committing what seem like random robberies.

Often, such in-depth analysis cannot be done because staffing is insufficient and/or the information available to "diagnose" correctly is unavailable. Thus, a number of crime problems go "undiagnosed" or "misdiagnosed." In "diagnosing" crime problems sufficiently, we need both crime analysis and intelligence analysis information. Sometimes, we need collaboration. Good critical thinking is a necessity. Without a correct "diagnosis," our response to any particular crime problem is obviously less likely to be effective. That said, just like in treating disease, sometimes problems go away by themselves and it doesn't matter what the physician does. Yet we know that some problems, such as an undetected serial killer, like a dangerous virus, are crucial to catch early. Differential diagnosis can save lives.

In the News

Broadening Dubai murder investigation sees INTERPOL join international task force as it issues 16 additional Red Notices

New tool helps identify criminals

Police take aim at hard targets

Metaphorically Speaking:

"A metaphor is an analogy between two objects or ideas, conveyed by the use of a word instead of another." Crime and intelligence analysis in policing is a relatively new field that can be developed through use of creative and imaginative thinking. 

The use of metaphorical thinking, by comparing crime and intelligence analysis to other fields, other ways of working, other disciplines and other concepts, can stimulate innovation and growth. 

 Currently, we look at analysts' toolboxes - that is using a metaphor to describe analytical tools that are not in a box at all. Another use of metaphor is to examine analysis from a scientific perspective in evidence-based policing. A few individuals have compared the intelligence field to the field of medicine, which is another example of metaphorical thinking. 

We use conceptual metaphors without even knowing it in order to communicate new, complex, and/or challenging concepts. In the book Words Overflown by Stars, creative writing teacher Diane Lefer uses terms in her essay "Breaking the 'Rules' of Story Structure" that could be applied to crime and intelligence analysis. She begins by suggesting that we "question the tradition story" - in crime and intelligence analysis that means examining and discarding our assumptions. Beyond that, since many have heard that "get rid of your assumptions" repeatedly, questioning the tradition story of policing means changing our paradigm: from catching the "bad guys" to preventing crime, striving for a deeper understanding of crime in order to discover actionable responses, and even (dare we believe?) solutions that we have never imagined before. She suggests that sometimes writers may look at the inner life rather than the outer actions of their characters. 

While analysts cannot go into the heads of criminals, wouldn't good analysis result from understanding the motives and feelings of those we analyze? Describing events without insight into the people involved in those events is the style of some creative writers, but most readers want to know who the characters are, why they do what they do, in order to care about the story. Perhaps we need to understand more about who our victims are, to see them as real people, rather than numbers and reports. What other ways might we make our analysis stories more real? Might we try to understand the readers of our reports and give them something worth reading? 

 Like writers who discover what they are writing through the act of writing (as Lefer describes some writers), don't analysts discover what they are analyzing through the process of analysis, rather than ahead of time? How much analysis is conducted as an adventure, exploring one route of analysis and then discarding it if the trail grows cold, going off in different directions as new pieces of information emerge unexpectedly? How adventurous are you in your analysis? How much do you trust worn and single trails of process rather than travel new and multiple roads? 

 Lefer goes on to describe some alternative metaphors for storytelling: mosaics, wheels, and musical improvisation. In the Psychology of Intelligence Analysis, Richards Heuer writes about the mosaic analogy. Using a wheel to describe crime and intelligence analysis can be correlated to Robert Clark's target-centric approach. The criminal or crime group would be the hub of the wheel, while the spokes would consist of all the agencies gathering information, including the who, what, where, when, why, and how of the target (the criminal or crime group). 

Musical improvisation could be likened to crime and intelligence analysis in that good analysis has an underlying structure but must be fluid and flexible to change with new information - yet under control, even when it does not appear to be so. Certainly, the ability to improvise is an essential skill for analysts, but one that is seldom mentioned. Lefer describes how an effective creative writer changes not just story characters through his or her work, but has the power to change readers. Analysts can have the same power. 

In the book Intelligence-Led Policing, Jerry Ratcliffe writes about how important it is for analytical products to provide actionable knowledge to decision-makers - we want decision-makers to change their actions based on our work. Great creative writers impact individual lives by their works. Great analysts change the minds of decision-makers - giving them new knowledge to make informed decisions that save lives. 

This blog will be introducing different perspectives in which to view crime and intelligence analysis using metaphorical thinking. Each post in this category will be labeled "Metaphor" so that you can look up previous posts, if you are so inclined. Label categories can be found by scrolling down the left column of this blog. You may also search under "Metaphor" at the top right side of the blog to find the posts. Comments and new ideas are always welcome!

Police crime analyst uses new programs

Police crime analyst uses new programs

New depends on where you live... nevertheless, this article makes some good points.

$81k crime analyst job still in the mix

$81k crime analyst job still in the mix

It is great to see crime analysis as a priority.

Analysis In the News

City Has New Weapon In Fight Against Crime: Boston Police Launch Real-Time Crime Center

Computer-generated crime maps target trouble areas

Crime and instability: Case studies of transnational threats

Crime and instability: Case studies of transnational threats February 2010, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

Interrupting The Market for Stolen Property

Interrupting The Market for Stolen Property is a post from the Crime Analyst's Blog well worth reading.

Colorado's Fusion Center Recognized at National Fusion Center Conference

Colorado's Fusion Center Recognized at National Fusion Center Conference

"The Colorado Information and Analysis Center, an FBI agent assigned to the Joint Regional Intelligence Center in Los Angeles and the deputy director of the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center won awards at the National Fusion Center Conference today as fusion center of the year and as outstanding fusion center federal and state/local representatives." 2/23/2010

Swansea Love Story

Swansea Love Story

I found this link in the CNN news article about the videos "Swansea Love Story." A 180% increase in the use of heroin in the past four years in Swansea, Wales is the topic subject of the videos. These videos personalize the statistics. Too often, we focus on numbers and not what they mean in the qualitative world.

Course may help students help police prevent crimes

Course may help students help police prevent crimes

Thanks to my friend Tom Algoe for sending this along. I personally would like to see the resources of academia harnessed more to address real-world problems, as this article proposes.

Data sharing technology achieves 26% reduction in shoplifting

Data sharing technology achieves 26% reduction in shoplifting

Interesting News

Military, Mounties Trained for the Games
Proceeds of crime to combat drug trade
Boulder Burglary Ring Cracked, Police Say
LA Times: Border Patrol, Mexico federal police work together on Arizona border
Global Hackers Breached 2,400 Companies, Security Firm Says
Caryn Wagner Confirmed as Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis at DHS

Ericka Jackson - Crime Analyst in the News

Read: GPD crime analyst, student are honored

Congratulations, Ericka!

Mid-Cape police use teamwork

Mid-Cape police use teamwork is an article about pooling crime analysis resources on Cape Cod - this will likely make your vacationing safer! :-)

Tampa's Focus on Four Plan

Tampa's Focus on Four Plan was documented in 2008. Since then crime has dropped even more. "On February 9, 2010, new statistics released announcing that Tampa’s crime rate has dropped a whopping 56% since 2002." Read an article on this strategy. Read the Focus on Four Plan. The four crimes Tampa focuses on strageically are burglary, robbery, auto break-ins and auto theft.

Crime prevention assessment tool

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime's Crime prevention assessment tool offers an interesting perspective.

"The present Crime Prevention Assessment Tool is a joint assessment tool developed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) to support joint programming at the country level. The Tool is an essential step towards more sustainable and integrated approaches to crime prevention and also an important advance in inter-agency collaboration at the country level."

New Book - Tactical Crime Analysis: Research and Investigation

"Tactical Crime Analysis: Research and Investigation provides a comprehensive discussion on both the theoretical and practical aspects of crime series analysis, making it a critical resource for those engaged in crime prevention and investigation." This new book is by respected experts in the field - Derek J. Paulsen, Sean Bair, and Dan Helms. It is a significant addition to the growing literature that increasingly legitimizes crime and intelligence analysis in policing.

Prolific offender caught

Prolific offender caught is an article highlighting a success story involving a crime analyst identifying prolific offenders who break into vehicles. Nice work!

Retired Officers Raise Questions on Crime Data

Retired Officers Raise Questions on Crime Data

The pitfalls of Compstat...

Former Commander Recalls Pressure to Alter Reports

New specialist to combat gangs while giving members second chance

New specialist to combat gangs while giving members second chance takes an interesting approach to utilizing a gang intelligence analyst. Read it!

Hope for Students

For students who would like to be crime analysts some day - read this!
Student working with Phoenix Police homicide unit

Predictive Policing: What Can We Learn from Wal-Mart and Amazon about Fighting Crime in a Recession?

Predictive Policing: What Can We Learn from Wal-Mart and Amazon about Fighting Crime in a Recession? by Charlie Beck, Chief of Detectives, Los Angeles Police Department, and Colleen McCue, President and Chief Executive Officer, MC2 Solutions, LLC, Midlothian, Virginia in the The Police Chief online magazine.

Easy = True

Easy = True is an article to get you thinking about your thinking... how might it pertain to the world of crime and intelligence analysis? I am certain it does.

INTELLIGENCE LED POLICING: A VALUABLE LAW ENFORCEMENT PHILOSOPHY

INTELLIGENCE LED POLICING: A VALUABLE LAW ENFORCEMENT PHILOSOPHY is an online article by Stephen R. Auger from Innovative-analytics & Training. Feedback is welcome.

Annual Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

Annual Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

Cross-jurisdictional Analysis

Two recent articles on this topic:

Local police join forces on crime data analysis
Cushing Police Host County Intelligence Meeting

Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism Report Card

Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism Report Card January 26, 2010 from the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism

Excerpt:
"Proposals like that of the Director of National Intelligence to establish an Intelligence Officer Training Corps, modeled on the military’s ROTC program, are critical to provide future scientific and engineering personnel as well as linguistic and area studies for developing capable analysts. While the use of contract personnel fills some vacancies, the practice is overly expensive, creates no lasting organizational expertise, and is, at best, a short-term solution to a long-term problem. What needs to be done is known and the national consequences of not hiring a sufficient number of qualified individuals are understood. Therefore, the decision of both the Administration and Congress to not adequately fund needed recruitment and retention programs, to include joint-duty assignments, is an inexcusable failure. To judge this situation as anything other than an abject failure, both the Administration and Congress must commit to spending what is required to recruit, hire, train, and
retrain a qualified, motivated national security workforce."

Intelligence Reform: The Lessons and Implications of the Christmas Day Attack

Intelligence Reform: The Lessons and Implications of the Christmas Day Attack
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
20 January 2010
Statement for the Record of Dennis C. Blair, Director of National Intelligence and Michael E. Leiter, Director of the National Counterterrorism Center

Crime drop linked to new police tactic

Crime drop linked to new police tactic

Very interesting crime prevention tactic!

Targeting guns to reduce violent crime

Targeting guns to reduce violent crime

Good article!

"Bealefeld's strategy is multipronged: He has created a gun-trace task force, coordinated more closely with parole officers, and has worked with city and court officials to develop a gun offender registry – one of the first in the country – that tracks his "bad guys" much the way sex offender registries do."

Summary of the White House Review of the Attempted Terrorist Attack

Summary of the White House Review of the December 25, 2009 Attempted Terrorist Attack

U.S. crime falls despite prolonged recession

U.S. crime falls despite prolonged recession

Interesting...

The Need for Analysis

As I watch the news, waiting for the President's speech, I cannot help think about this blog and my sincere desire that analysis become a real emphasis in public safety, including homeland security issues. Here is a quote from my 2006 book "Out of Bounds: Innovation and Change in Law Enforcement Intelligence Analysis:"

"Looking for the unknown threats that are hidden in the data requires the proactive and effective analysis of data — people with a proclivity to answer the unstated and unforeseen questions. There may be unknown elements existing in the data — hidden threats that we could uncover, if we had adequate resources dedicated to the task." p. 9

We know those hidden threats exist and that new threats will emerge.

What will be do about these threats? Information sharing is not enough. Collaboration is not enough. Collection is not enough. Co-location of resources (such as fusion centers and task forces) is not enough. We need individual people with initiative, with critical and creative thinking, with access to disparate data and with the authority to ask questions of the data. We need human brain-power to analyze and synthesize those pieces of information that will create the knowledge we need to protect the public - technology and policies are not enough.

The Evolution of Structured Analytic Techniques

The Evolution of Structured Analytic Techniques
By Richards J. Heuer, Jr.
Presentation to the National Academy of Science, National Research Council Committee on Behavioral and Social Science Research to Improve Intelligence Analysis for National Security, Washington, DC, December 8, 2009.

Pair suspected of stealing cavity fillings

Pair suspected of stealing cavity fillings - a crime series involving metal theft with a new twist....