4 Factors to Consider When Investing in Technology

Paul Rosenzweig, former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security explained at the International Association of Chiefs of Police the four factors to consider when investing in a new technology for your police department. In this blog post we will explain how PredPol addresses these four factors.

1.) Cost

PredPol’s pricing follows our continued pursuit of simplicity and intuition. There are no hidden fees, unlimited users, and a yearly flat rate. PredPol requires no new hardware, no storage or data fees, and a dedicated 24-hour support staff. Deployment happens in matter of weeks with about 5 hours cumulative set-up time, and comprehensive and intuitive training with your staff.

2.) Determining and Managing Expectations

Data is stored in the cloud and at the fingertips of officers and analysts 24/7. Data is updated daily and automatically, which simplifies data collection and storage allowing more time for analysis and direction of resources.

3.) Planning for Privacy

PredPol’s predictions use only what, when, and where, which means there’s no profiling or identifying information. PredPol’s predictions enable more transparency when applied to community policing efforts, especially via social media. Knowing and sharing what crimes are expected, and where, garners citizen engagement and give officers opportunity to get out and interact in neighborhoods. (For more on PredPol’s support of community policing read our blog post).

4.) Security Implications

Using PredPol’s prediction boxes means preventing a range of selected crime types based solely on your past crime data of what, when, and where. No personal data is collected, which eliminates concerns of profiling. PredPol ensures your data’s security with a combination of AES (Advanced Encryption Standard, a specification for encryption of electronic data established by the United States federal government) and RSA (a public-key cryptosystem used for secure data transmission). This combination creates a “direct line” to PredPol’s prediction servers, allowing the data pipe and PredPol’s prediction servers to communicate freely without the threat of interception.

Click here for more information about PredPol, and to request a demo.