FBI Law Enforcement Magazine Features PredPol

The FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin has a feature story on predictive policing in Santa Cruz and the usage of PredPol by Santa Cruz Police. The article was written by the former Santa Cruz Police Crime Analyst Zach Friend and discusses the department’s process for implementation – including officer buy in, data collection and evaluation. Here is an excerpt: [Read the whole story here: http://1.usa.gov/17pxuvh]

“The algorithm is a culmination of anthropological and criminological behavior research. It uses complex mathematics to estimate crime and predict future hot spots. Researchers based these studies on information that officers inherently know. For example, when people are victims, the chance that they or their neighbors will be victimized again increases. Offenders criminalize familiar areas. There are detectable patterns associated with the times and locations of their crimes.

Using an earthquake aftershock algorithm, the system employs verified crime data to predict future offenses in 500-square-foot locations. The program uses historical information combined with current data to determine patterns…”