The initiative goes hand-in-hand with a variety of crime-reduction initiatives implemented in the past five years including a crime analysis system, focused patrol strategies based on weekly crime meetings, and technology that captures and disseminates information quickly.
The initial focus of the project is to reduce robberies, and the department has begun by centralizing past and present criminal data and patterns.
Burglaries in the city often cluster in time and location. The individuals committing these crimes tend to have predictable patterns, and incidents usually take place near their homes or familiar locations. In addition, property crimes are not displaceable crimes, which means the criminals won't simply move two miles to another location.
"Criminals continue to evolve and so must we in order to keep pace and reduce the criminal activity that impacts Charleston residents and visitors," said Police Chief Gregory Mullen. "We are already seeing the potential value from this approach. It will help us provide critical information to the officers in the field."
Through predictive analytics, the CPD will be able to augment its officers' years of experience and knowledge and provide them with a more in-depth method of looking at crime trends by centralizing previously disparate information including patrols, types of criminal offenses that are trending, time of day, day of week, and even weather conditions.
