12 Questions that Police Leaders Should Ask About Their Crime Analysis Capabilities

Next week, I have the honor of attending the National Public Safety Partnership conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma  to work with a number of agencies experiencing high violent crime rates in their communities. I was asked by the Bureau of Justice Assistance and the Institute for Intergovernmental Research, the organizers of the conference, to revive a presentation that I had given a few years ago. Fellow consultant Julie Wartell joined me on the session and has helped refresh and supplement the original material with her advice and extensive experience.

   

Given that each agency attending the symposium has unique issues and Julie and I only have an hour to meet with each of them, I thought I'd offer a full version of the presentation here in case we don't have time to get to all the material. I also thought it might benefit agencies unable to attend the event.

      

     

If you don't feel like watching the video to see what the questions are, here's the list with a few notes:

  

1. Is my crime analysis comprehensive? Your crime analysis unit should issue regular products on people, places, patterns, and problems.
2. Do we have enough people? The IACA recommends 1 analyst per 1,500 UCR Part 1 crimes or 1 analyst per 2,800 NIBRS Group A crimes, or 1 analyst per 70 sworn officers. These calculations should all come out to roughly the same figure.
3. Are they located in the right place? We recommend an organizational location at a level before the agency splits into its major divisions and bureaus, and a physical location in a central, accessible place to help maximize information-sharing and rapport.
4. Are they allocated in the best way? In agencies with multiple analysts, do you separate them by geography, crime type, analysis type, or some other factor? There's no universal answer, but the best agencies achieve a balance between centralization and decentralization.
5. Do they have access to the data they need? You know what? I'm just going to link to this other article.
6. Do analysts have a rapport with the officers? Civilian analysts need to develop relationships with line personnel to facilitate the exchange of information and the use of analytical products. Various actions by leadership can help or hinder such rapport.
7. Are the analysts' products actionable? Good crime analysis products lead directly to solutions. To do that, they can't just be a bunch of statistics, charts, and maps. They have to balance the qualitative and quantitative, consider both police and non-police data sources, and answer the questions of who, what, when, where, how, so what, and now what.
8. Are the analysts' products used? If you expect actionable products from your analysts, you should expect action from the rest of the department. Good agencies have policies and programs to address repeat offenders, hot spots, short-term patterns, and long-term problems using a variety of mechanisms.
9. Do analysts have a professional development plan? Crime analysis is constantly changing. Analysts need to keep up on the latest tools, technologies, ideas, and best practices, as well as the changing nature of crime itself. Good crime analysis units devote time every week to professional development.
10. Do analysts participate in professional networks? Analysts learn from each other. For very little money, crime analysts can become a part of local and national professional associations that not only provide training and literature but let them share what they know with a broader community.
11. Do we provide anything to partners and stakeholders? Don't forget the community. Most analytical products with only minor redactions could be sent out to the public. Help your residential and business community members prevent their own victimization with detailed, current products, not just the same old "crime prevention tips."
12. Would crime analysts' outputs hold up to scrutiny? Make sure your analysts are following conventional processes for accessing and querying data and that their numbers and findings are sensible. Some analysts simply don't have the right training, resources, or, unfortunately, skill or interest. 

    

The signs of a good crime analysis capability include:

• The agency receives regular analytical products on people, places, patterns, and problems.
• The analysis unit has enough people to provide in-depth, accurate, actionable analysis of these issues.
• The analysis unit is organizationally located in a place that allows it to serve the needs of the entire agency.
• If there are multiple analysts, their workload is allocated in such a way that no major crimes, geographic areas, or operational divisions are going unserviced.
• Analysts have ready access to a timely, complete, and accurate dataset on which they can conduct flexible queries, with no unnecessary technological or procedural obstacles.
• Analysts have strong rapport with the operational personnel among them. Their work is trusted and used, and they receive regular intelligence and feedback.
• Everything issued by the crime analysis unit is detailed, accurate, and precise enough to inform direct action.
• Those products are actually used by operational divisions to create targeted tactics and strategies.
• Analysts receive regular training and professional development and have a plan for such.
• Analysts participate in global and regional associations and both follow and contribute to global standards.

    

I'd be glad to discuss any of these issues in more detail.