Edmonton Police Use BI To Fight Crime

The Edmonton Police Service in Canada is using business intelligence tools to improve the effectiveness of police in the field and to increase public safety.

The force, which polices a regional population of more than one million residents, uses IBM analytics technology to identify problems, associated trends and locations of crimes. The organization also looks at dispatch delays, travel time and other factors to try to improve response times.

The analytics technology helps police monitor performance strategically over time and place, and tactically on a day-by-day and call-by-call basis, IBM said. By applying business intelligence to crime data, commanders and front-line staff at Edmonton get access to information that pinpoints crime rates and patterns through analysis of millions of historic incident, offense, arrest and call-for-service records.

One example of the use of IBM analytics technology was in fighting arson. The agency notices an upward trend in the crime and compared that data with data from previous years. As a result, the police service determined that arson activity would likely increase from March to July. As a result, police efforts were directed at high-risk areas, nearly eliminating arson there.

Recently, Edmonton police began using analytics reports to tell people about the crime rates in their neighborhoods, IBM said. In the future, the police service plans to disseminate information to officers through mobile devices.

"For us, the bottom-line is to prevent crime, and business analytics reporting has helped us accomplish that," John Warden, BI project team lead at Edmonton Police Services, said in a recent IBM statement.

IBM has posted a podcast and blog on the use of its Information Management and Business Analytics technology to improve public safety.