A proactive approach to crime reduction requires the ability to track the results of proactive policing deployments. This requires moving from the “old way” of silos to team coordination and real-time collaboration between patrol, command, crime analysts and investigators. Done right, central coordination and real-time collaboration can have a profound impact on crime reduction results, improved strategies, and greater resource efficiency.
The Grand Junction, CO Police Department: A Mission in Collaboration
The Grand Junction Police Department (GJPD), has a vision for a new, 21st-century definition of excellence in policing – one where teamwork and partnerships and the appropriate use of technology is encouraged.
The GJPD teams begin their day by scanning a secure, CJIS compliant portal that assists them in being proactive during team member’s uncommitted time. It is expected that all teams (from officers to command) use this portal as their central communication hub. Because the department values information sharing and collaboration to implement proactive police strategies, officers know that mission-critical information is consumed and distributed through the portal.
In this use case, we see that the GJPD has identified a problem-area in the Horizon Drive corridor. They start the project by using the Operations Discussion feature in SmartForce™. The project owner creates a discussion and identifies the problems, specific locations, persons of interest and includes a detailed bulletin, created by the crime analyst, that documents all the criminal activity in the area. Based on the entered discussion, Patrol, Criminal Investigations, and other specialty units have all the information to implement the strategy.
Everyone in the department – from patrol, to CID, specialty units, commanders and crime analysts collaborate securely and in real-time on this problem area. They understand what needs to be done and note self-initiated activities and information that are gathered during their non-committed time. Centralized coordination and real-time collaboration allows for quick adjustments, improved officer safety and keeps teams engaged and focused on the project. ALL proactive information gathered in the Horizon Drive corridor is captured seamlessly with SmartForce, with the integrated use of mobile devices to share critical information. Results happen in days vs. weeks. Transparency improves accountability and accelerates success.
In the end, this proactive approach to crime reduction contributed to several arrests in the area. Commanders review the activities and the Horizon Drive project is successfully closed. The results of the project showed that self-initiated activity increased by 75% during the project.
Results that speak for themselves:
75% increase in officer initiated activities.
When the operation begins, reported crimes increase because of arrests and then promptly decreases as a result of the successful project.
The time spent on the project was 120 hours and 20 minutes. There were 13 arrests, 51 building checks, 25 traffic stops, 6 FIR’s, 4 consensual contacts and 2 known offender checks.
All told, there were 34 different discussion threads opened that related to the Horizon Drive project.
None of this would have been possible if the Grand Junction Police Department was still stuck in the “tried but true” reactive policing approach of using calls for service, incident reporting, antiquated business processes (i.e., email) with information silos and static data that resulted in inadequate reporting and lack of accountability.
In short, the Grand Junction police have a strategy and plan for proactive policing that now works. Their effectiveness and success are amplified by the power of people and software. They can now collaborate in real-time, learn and adjust with agility, based on actionable data, make informed decisions, and effectively allocate resources.
