Data-Driven Innovation (DDI) benefits all sectors of our economy, increases efficiency, saves money and resources, and improves quality of life. From safety and security, to the environment and infrastructure, to health and education, the opportunities for DDI to improve our lives are boundless. In SIIA’s recent whitepaper, Data-Driven Innovation A Guide for Policymakers: Understanding and Enabling the Economic and Social Value of Data, we explored the ways our member companies are leveraging data to provide cutting edge solutions. Here’s one case study, from the Memphis PD.
Blue CRUSH (Criminal Reduction Utilizing Statistical History) is a data analytical initiative that provides the Memphis Police Department (MPD) the ability to gain an advantage through insight and agility. At the heart of it is a predictive model that incorporates fresh crime data from sources that range from the MPD’s records management system to video cameras monitoring events on the street. In the realm of crime-fighting analytics, there’s a fine line between the “interesting” and the actionable. It is strength in the latter that makes Blue CRUSH stand out from its predecessors. Blue CRUSH lays bare underlying crime trends in the way that promotes an effective fast response, as well as a deeper understanding of the longer-term factors (like abandoned housing) that affect crime trends. It happens at the precinct level. Looking at multilayer maps that show crime hot spots, commanders can see not only current activity levels, but also any shifts in such activities that may have resulted from previous changes in policing deployment and tactics.
At each weekly meeting, commanders go over these results with their officers to judge what worked, what didn’t and how to adjust tactics in the coming week. They might see, for example, how burglaries are down in one ward, but up another, or where thieves are stealing cars in one ward and dumping them in another. What’s striking, says MPD Chief Godwin, is the granularity. “We’re catching this immediately and we’re doing it every day,” he explains. “On short notice, we’re able to shift officers to a particular ward, on a particular day, right down to the shift level. It’s a bit like a chess match and it’s enabling us to make arrests we never could have before.”