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Predictive Policing

In: Computers and Technology

Submitted By sherhall
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Term Paper: Predictive Policing
Sherrell Hall
Dr. Kaali Dass
CIS-500: Information System Decision Making
April 21, 2014

When one thinks of predictive policing, what does he or she think about? Some may think it’s a way for police officers to know of a crime that’s going to take place. Others may think a group of policeman will gather together and come up with predictions on what crime is going to take place next and where. While both statements are somewhat true, let’s take a look at what predictive policing is and compare and contrast the application of information technology to optimize police departments’ performance to reduce crime versus random patrols of the streets. We’ll also take a look at COMPSTAT, define it, and discuss the basic IS functions in addition to how it allows police departments to respond to crime faster. In addition to COMPSTAT and its functions, we’ll discuss the SWOT analysis.
Part I: Compare and Contrast the application of information technology (IT) to optimize police departments’ performance to reduce crime versus random patrols of the streets.

Predictive policing is “taking data from disparate sources, analyzing them and then using the results to anticipate, prevent, and respond more effectively to future crime” (Pearsall, 2010). In other words, predictive policing is analyzing all of the data from crimes and using it to predict when the next crime(s) will occur. This is proven to decrease the crime rate. For instance, in Santa Cruz, California, two women were in the process of peering into cars in a parking garage. The computer program led the officers to this parking garage because it predicted this is where the burglaries were expected to happen that day, during this specific time. In doing this, the ladies were arrested and as it turns out, one of the women had drugs on her and the other had outstanding warrants. If the

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