The primary motivator for this project was a need to share information among multiple law enforcement agencies. Formerly, criminals moved at will between police jurisdictions while critical data about their crimes was not shared among neighboring police departments. Keeping track of information on a daily basis was time-consuming. Some information was paper-based, and tracking trends was difficult.  

Historically, the Erlanger Police Department used mapping and statistical data systems developed in-house to provide information to patrol officers, and many police records were stored in filing cabinets.  So while criminals crossed back and forth over city boundaries, the information about their crimes stayed within the individual cities, often out of reach when it was needed most. 
The department needed a tool that would provide access into historical databases, as well as integrate real-time information about current crimes, arrests, and incidents. 
The police department was also motivated by an upswing in crime following several years of declines, stretching police resources to the limit. The department felt a pressing need to work smarter and do more work with fewer people, yet didn't want to increase costs or hire additional personnel.

Erlanger PD learned about Information Builders WebFOCUS business intelligence (BI) environment through the Northern Kentucky Area Planning Commission. With help from Information Builders Consulting, they implemented an information system that merges data from 10 neighboring cities and 19 government agencies. The new system enables officers to search crime records and incident reports stretching back over five years. 

The new application is unique because of the way it presents information for two different audiences: a powerful search engine helps officers run simple queries from their patrol cars, delivering ranked listings of relevant information, while a BI portal displays key performance indicators (KPIs) of current crime activity, types of incidents, and trends to investigators at headquarters. Data is stored in a Microsoft SQL Server database maintained by the Northern Kentucky Area Planning Commission.

All cities and agencies connected to the system input their respective police record data. Officers can also enter notes into the system directly from the field. iWay integration technology updates the search index every 15 minutes with crime records from Erlanger's Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system and Records Management System (RMS). WebFOCUS Magnify taps into these records and rapidly scans indexed content to create Google-style results, transforming them into usable information and preparing them for searching by end users. 

Dispatchers and supervisors can view a different slice of this crime data through the departments new crime portal, which is anchored by a geographic information system (GIS). Created with WebFOCUS and ESRI's Arc/IMS, the portal displays a real-time view of incidents, arrests, 911 calls, and other events occurring throughout the dispatch area. It includes dashboards for displaying and drilling down into KPIs such as crime activity by city, current crime alerts, and a summary of arrests and incidents sorted by categories, such as arson, assault, burglary, and criminal mischief.  

The KPIs and map work together to provide a unified view of the crime data. Each interactive dashboard includes fields for drilling down into the data via parameters specified by the user, so they can enrich the map with facts about criminal activities and incidents as they occur.
By leveraging this current repository of information, officers can respond to calls with more knowledge in hand, and supervisors can deploy the force in a way that best serves the community.

The department needed a tool that would provide access into historical databases, as well as integrate real-time information about current crimes, arrests, and incidents. Prior to implementing the new system, the department struggled to keep track of information, which was mostly paper-based. The department had been using mapping and statistical data systems developed in-house to provide information to patrol officers, but many police records were stored in filing cabinets. The business of crime-fighting was a time-consuming process, and tracking trends was difficult.  
The department had a vast wealth of historical data gleaned from its 911, CAD, and RMS systems -- all used to track crime and ensure quality of service -- but the police lacked a BI solution that could make use of the data. 

The WebFOCUS BI environment offers valuable system analysis by collecting, analyzing, and integrating data, while providing historical, current, and predictive views of business operations. Integrated reporting and analysis allows supervisors to determine better management of their organization, improve services, identify effective strategies, enhance security, and increase efficiency. By analyzing criminal behavior, officers can coordinate their activities to reduce the likelihood of similar crimes occurring in the future.

iWay updates the search index every 15 minutes from Erlanger's CAD and RMS systems. WebFOCUS Magnify indexes the data records and provides access to the data through a familiar search interface. This makes it easier for officers to find relevant results and reduces the time spent searching for information.

The department used WebFOCUS to develop detailed reports that provide supervisors and staff with valuable information. WebFOCUS Report Caster automatically delivers these reports to key personnel. For example, Police Chief Marc Fields receives the Daily Resource Forecast report at the start of each shift to determine if he has sufficient personnel on hand to cover heavy crime areas. Other reports help sergeants review a breakdown of activity during the previous 16 hours. Yet another report, delivered 30 minutes before the end of each shift, gives the sergeant a summary of the previous eight hours of activity. Officers can also access data on their blackberries prior to arriving for duty, getting a preview of what to expect when they begin their shifts.

GIS maps from ESRI provide detailed pictures and dynamic displays of the location of reported incidents and the surrounding neighborhoods. These GIS capabilities allow officers to view specific types of crime for a given area and perform crime mapping and statistical analysis functions. Officers can view maps of crime density hot spots by location or crime type, such as car theft, to see specific incidents within a ZIP code, neighborhood, city district, or other user-defined area. The system can also integrate data for weather, events, time of day, case history, associated suspects, and aerial photos. Officers receive the most up-to-date information available, along with predictions of crime hot spots before each shift. Data from the RMS is integrated and analyzed on a continuous basis. The end result is a sophisticated data model of criminal activity with a user-defined set of elements that predict future criminal behavior. 

Yes

Yes

Thanks to the unique combination of search, integration, and business intelligence software, even small agencies can acquire cutting edge technology that was formerly the domain of much larger police departments. 

Soon, Erlanger citizens will also be able to access some of the departments information via a public-facing website, so they can check on crime occurring in their neighborhoods. Being more in touch with crimes in their neighborhoods, citizens will be more likely to report clues and suspicious behavior. Moreover, they will be able to use the website to determine if there are areas of the city that they should avoid. For example, if a citizens teenage son wants to go out with friends to a certain part of town, his or her parents could input the location. This might reveal that the police have been dispatched the last two weekends for incidents of wild parties in that neighborhood. Within a few minutes the parent could obtain valuable information to help the parents make a decision.

For the department itself, there are now better tools in place for officers to make arrests and apprehend criminals and for supervisors to deploy the force. A more productive agency means less need to hire additional personnel or raise taxes.

With its comprehensive information system the department can better deploy its force based on insight into current and expected criminal activity. It has proven its ability to protect citizens and reduce costs through more efficient crime-solving techniques. This intelligent crime-fighting tool has improved productivity and provided the community with improved law enforcement capabilities.

The department has developed detailed reports that provide supervisors and staff with valuable information for their work. Chief Fields daily resource forecast reports help him determine if he has sufficient personnel on hand to cover the areas where the heaviest crime activity is occurring. These reports evolved into reports for sergeants, providing a breakdown of activity during the previous 16 hours. They also receive reports 30 minutes before the end of each shift that summarize the previous eight hours. Officers can also access data on their blackberries prior to arriving for duty, getting a preview of what to expect when they begin their shifts.

In summary, they have real-time search results for police officers in the field, KPIs and trends for supervisors and dispatchers, a dynamic visualization of GIS data, and automatic report creation and distribution.

With the success of this project the Erlanger Police Department has taken a big step forward in its quest to improve police services for the community and surrounding area. The departments BI system can share information across city and agency boundaries and present that information in two useful ways: via a powerful search engine that enables officers to run queries from their patrol cars, and through a BI portal that displays key performance indicators (KPIs) of current crime activity to supervisors at headquarters.

Officers have a valuable tool to help them make arrests and apprehend suspected criminals, while supervisors can make informed decisions about how and where to deploy the force. The new system boosts productivity and ensures more effective protection of citizens throughout Northern Kentucky.
Law enforcement personnel in 10 cities throughout Northern Kentucky can now share up-to-date information. Its not just data sharing, but timely data sharing that is important. Personnel can access current information out of the system almost instantaneously, making the tool extremely effective on the street. 

For example, using this information system, the Erlanger PD was able to quickly resolve an indecent exposure call. While still in the field, the officer in charge looked back over previous indecent exposure cases and identified those suspects who had already been arrested. Eliminating suspects shortened the investigation, which could have taken two or three days without access to the data. The timeliness of the data not only resulted in a shortened investigation but also eliminated the necessity of pulling other personnel from their respective cases to do the research.  
With this comprehensive information system the department can better deploy its force. It has proven its ability to protect citizens and reduce costs through more efficient crime-solving techniques.

Soon, Northern Kentucky citizens will also be able to access some of the departments information via a public-facing website, so they can check on crime occurring in their neighborhoods. Once citizens are more in touch with crimes in their neighborhoods, they will be more likely to report clues and suspicious behavior.

Supervisors at headquarters use the departments new crime portal to detect patterns of criminal activity, so they can efficiently deploy the police force based on their insight into current and expected incidents. We are experiencing improved law enforcement and prevention in the Erlanger area with the new system, Police Chief Mark Fields says. Without this tool we would not be aware, for example, if a string of burglaries occurred in a block across our city boundary in a neighboring city. But now if we see reports of such activity, we can send a unit to patrol our city streets that border the area where the burglaries occurred. We can potentially prevent a crime where in the past we would probably be responding to a crime after the fact.

The Erlanger Kentucky Police Department is blazing a trail of innovative policing with its deployment of the new system. This project improves situational awareness and multi-agency communication and collaboration. A lack of interoperability can lead to an unnecessary loss of lives, property, and community stability. By increasing interoperability and information-sharing among jurisdictions, the safety of both officers and the citizens they serve is better secured. 

Inadequate and unreliable communications have been plaguing public safety organizations for decades. Officers cannot perform their mission-critical duties when they lack interoperability. We are the first local law enforcement agency to create an operational BI system with integrated search capabilities that combines current crime data from multiple agencies to link vital crime-fighting information. 

Communication between and among communities is now seamless, a single state of mind, with all jurisdictions working in sync during day-to-day operations and in times of crisis. We have attained an unprecedented level of coordination and real-time situational awareness to provide security and safety for our citizens.

Erlanger Kentucky Police Department is the first local law enforcement agency to create an operational BI system with integrated search capabilities. Its BI system combines current crime data from 19 government agencies to link information about suspects, incidents, arrests, and crimes. Law enforcement personnel in 10 cities throughout Northern Kentucky can access this system through a Google-style interface, enabling patrol officers to respond more knowledgeably to all types of calls and provide better police services to their citizens.

The new application is unique because of the way it presents information for two different audiences: a powerful search engine helps officers run simple queries from their patrol cars, delivering ranked listings of relevant information, while a BI portal displays key performance indicators (KPIs) of current crime activity, types of incidents, and trends to investigators at headquarters. Data is stored in a SQL Server database at the Northern Kentucky Area Planning Commission.

With 19 agencies in 10 cities accessing data from a single database, the various organizations are in sync. This interoperability of public safety agencies to communicate across jurisdictions is key to improved readiness and response. 

Having a small, specialized IT department with few resources to devote to implementing new information systems, the department depended heavily on support from Information Builders. They took the time to listen to the departments needs and developed a solution that matches the way the organization works.

On the technical side, the department was working from a proprietary database that was somewhat cumbersome to decipher. They also had a huge volume of data gleaned from 911, CAD, and RMS systems -- all used to track crime and ensure quality of service -- that went back many years. Developers had to determine which data was most relevant to pull into the new system and how to organize it. They decided that the last three years data was sufficient for mobile use, but all the data is still available in-house.

The project was cleared to move forward from the outset. Funding was already in place.

Exceeded

The Erlanger Police Department has had quite a lot of interest in this project from other police departments all around the country and from as far away as Mexico. Since the tragedy of 911 there has been a heightened awareness about the importance of sharing information. Erlanger is demonstrating the effectiveness of this system and its ability to protect citizens and reduce costs through more efficient crime-solving techniques.

All around the country, government agencies are becoming aware of the importance of sharing data. With systems like this one, the department is starting to see the benefits. 

There is an old saying that everything comes ten years late in government. For once, instead of being ten years late, this system proves that government can be ahead of its time.

Personnel at headquarters quickly embraced the new capabilities. Supervisors have been using reports effectively and extolling the benefits they provide. Because officers in the field are busy and have been somewhat overwhelmed with the new functionality, they have been slower to get completely onboard, with about 30 percent currently up-and-running. Officers schedules make it difficult to gather a group for training sessions, and there are few resources to serve as trainers. The department plans to develop a video for one-on-one training to demonstrate how the system works and the benefits it offers to those in the field.

The department has rolled out approximately 70 percent of the planned functionality. The public-facing website is not online at present and the team is still developing a new web-based mapping solution for the patrol cars. Training is ongoing to bring all patrol officers on board. At present, about 30 percent of the officers are using it.