OPTIMIZED SYSTEMS

Las Vegas PD to Get Crime Analytics

Rebecca Kutzer-Rice | Date: 02-02-12 | Comments

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department is one of the largest crime-fighting organizations in the country. New analytics tools will help it to better process and organize information about the crimes that occur in its massive network.

Business analytics improve the speed and efficacy of organizations, and no team needs these effects more than a police department, where efficiency can be a matter of life and death. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) is now using IBM crime analytics software to improve safety in the city.

IBM�s i2 crime analytics software is already in use in cities such as Memphis and at more than 3,000 law enforcement agencies countrywide. In addition to organizing and sharing information citywide, the tool helps police officers make intricate, hard-to-spot connections about crime statistics.

Critically, the system includes the COPLINK Analysis Search, which includes 10 years� worth of data and analyzes information about people, places, mobile devices, phone records, and vehicles. The tool makes it easier for police officers in the field to work with crime analysts at the department.

"Leading police organizations such as LVMPD are looking for intelligent tools to help find hidden clues in mountains of data they already have," said Robert Griffin, head of i2 at IBM, according to a statement.

"Time and again, we've seen customers generate results in the first 30 days of use,� he continued. �It's not just about connecting the dots but the right dots in minutes and hours versus days or weeks or longer. Such capabilities support LVMPD's primary mission of providing public safety for the citizens of Las Vegas and surrounding areas.�

With a network comprising more than 8,000 square miles, the LVMPD consists of more than 2,200 sworn police officers and 1.4 million citizens within Clark County. The organization must process massive amounts of data each day, and analytics tools help prevent vital information from being overlooked.

In the first half of 2011, despite lower budgets for police departments nationwide, violent crime rates were down 6.4 percent and arson offenses 8.6 percent, according to the FBI. Technological improvements like analytics systems likely played a role in these decreases.