Week 5: Public safety

technology in the public sector
week 5: public safety and criminal
justice IT
Northwestern University MPPA 490

Summer 2012 - Greg Wass

1

Criminal justice functions Major technology issues

• Police 1. Need more data sharing
• Judicial across jurisdictions and
• Corrections functions
– “The system of ‘need to
know’ should be replaced by
a system of ‘need to share.’”
The 9/11 Commission Report
Policy questions
2. How to use modern data
• How do we prevent crimes science for predictive
before they happen? policing
• Where should we 3. Extending community
spend/invest public funds? policing via mobile apps

2

1. Need more data sharing across jurisdictions and
functions

3

The big picture
1. Case flow and decision points from
crime (police) to trial (judicial) to
incarceration (corrections) to reentry
(social services)
2. Interaction among multiple agencies
and levels of government

4

Data sharing standards: JXDM and NIEM
• “The Global Justice Extensible Markup Language (XML) Data
Model (Global JXDM) and Global Justice XML Data Dictionary
(Global JXDD) are the result of an effort by the justice and
public safety communities to produce a set of common, well-
defined data elements to be used for data transmissions.”

• “Perhaps the most widely recognized and important standard
of the day is the National Information Exchange Model
(NIEM). ...NIEM is seen by many in the justice information-
sharing community as the key standard and foundation for
exchanging information across multiple domains and
disciplines.”

Source: “Global Justice XML Data Model,” U.S. Department of Justice; Government Technology’s Digital Communities
7

2. How to use modern data science for predictive
policing

8

Predictive policing…
…is a multi-disciplinary, law enforcement-based strategy that
brings together
• advanced technologies
• criminological theory
• predictive analysis
• tactical operations

…that ultimately lead to results and outcomes of
• crime reduction (and crime prevention)
• management efficiency
• safer communities

Source: Dr. Craig Ushida, National Governors Association Cybercrime and Forensic Sciences Executive Policy Forum, June 2011
9

Predictive policing (cont’d)
• Universities and technology companies
– Developing computer programs based on private sector
models of forecasting consumer behavior
• Police agencies
– Use computer analysis of information (crimes,
environment, intelligence)
– Predict and prevent crime
• The idea
– Improve situational awareness (tactically /strategically) to
create strategies to police more efficiently and effectively

Source: Rand Corporation, National Institute of Justice, and National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center, 2012
10

How does it work in real life?
With situational awareness and anticipation of human behavior,
police can identify and develop strategies to prevent criminal
activity
– By repeat offenders
– On repeat victims
– By locations or types of targets
Police use their limited resources
– To work proactively
– Using effective strategies to prevent the activity
BUT - The effectiveness of the strategies must be measurable
– Reduced crime
– Higher arrest rates for serious/stranger offenses
– Broader social and justice outcomes and impacts
Source: Susan C. Smith, National Governors Association Cybercrime and Forensic Sciences Executive Policy Forum, June 2011
11

Predictive
Policing:
A Model

12

What questions can predictive policing answer?

13

A “blended theory” of crime
• Criminals and victims follow common life patterns;
where those patterns overlap can lead to crimes
– Geographic and temporal features influence the where
and when of those patterns
• Criminals make rational decisions using factors such
as area & target suitability, risk of getting caught, etc.
• Can ID many of these patterns and factors; can steer
criminals’ decisions through interventions
• Best fits ―”stranger offenses” like robberies,
burglaries, and thefts – less so vice and relationship
violence
14

Some prediction methods

15

Hot spot analysis / crime mapping

16

Regression analysis

17

Possible pitfalls

Goal is to be as
accurate as possible
in predicting purse
snatchings…e.g., do
99%+ of future purse
snatchings (green
triangles), land in hot
spots (red and yellow
areas)

18

Is the data complete and correct?

19

Is the result actionable?

20

Civil liberties / privacy concerns
Civil liberties scholars:
– Have concerns over privacy and civil rights issues
– Question how the police can use technology and knowledge to better
fight crime without eroding civil liberties
– Note that it must be constitutional
– Encourage involvement of community advocates and leaders fromthe
beginning to help alleviate concerns of privacy rights violations
• History has shown that serious legal consequences follow
when appropriate consideration is not given to privacy rights
• Transparency, auditing and due diligence are critical

21

Civil liberties / privacy concerns (cont’d)

• Supreme Court has ruled that standards for what
constitutes reasonable suspicion are relaxed in high
crime areas (i.e., “hot spots”)
– What constitutes a high crime area is a completely open
question
• Issue minor in comparison to civil and privacy rights
issues raised by profiling (i.e., “hot people”)
– What do we do with a prediction of re-offending that,
while much better than chance (~80% accurate), is still far
from definitive?

22

What practitioners say
Many crime analysts are already practicing predictive policing
– Marginal improvements can be made and are areas of opportunity
– There is a demonstrated gap between crime analysts and management
– Often, analyst recommendations do not make it to the street-level cop
Departments need officers / staff that
– Cares and places value on data and information
– Are trained (at their level) how to respond to the data/information
There is a need for better data sharing and interoperability
There is a need to incorporate nontraditional data, like
demographics and building foreclosures for more sophisticated
analysis
Crime Analyst potential is relatively untapped and undervalued

23

3. Extending community policing via mobile apps

24

City of Boston mobile apps

Source: Public Technology Institute
25

Map / List / Add Photo / Track Detail
26

City of San Francisco Spot Crime AppTM

27

Miami-Dade County self-service apps

28

29

Chicago Clear Map

30

Other topics
• Fusion centers
“A fusion center is an effective and efficient mechanism to
exchange information and intelligence, maximize resources,
streamline operations, and improve the ability to fight crime
and terrorism by analyzing data from a variety of sources.”
• GIS integration
“GIS in the mobile environment provides field personnel with
the ability to capture new information, geocode it, and send
it back so that incident command can visualize incident
progress. As such, it is strategically important that GIS
become an integral part of any common operating picture IT
infrastructure.”
Sources: U.S. Department of Justice; ESRI
31

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