Police Intelligence: Rapidly Changing the Peer-Reviewed Journal

According to Hammond, "Studies show there is a 40% chance that burglaries and other nonviolent crimes are being committed by someone who already has committed a violent crime, perhaps even murder" (p. 12).

Other useful applications that have been identified for DNA analyses include resolving missing or unidentified people cases and the U.S. Department of Justice continues to collaborate with state and local law enforcement agencies for these applications. Beyond the foregoing uses, DNA analyses can also help prove the innocence of suspects as well as wrongfully convicted individuals who are incarcerated, a trend that has helped exonerate a growing number of individuals in recent years. Taken together, DNA testing can help identify criminals and even human remains with a high degree of certainty, as well as ensure that people who have inadvertently become entangled in the criminal justice system are not wrongfully convicted. The author, though, does not include a description of the various types of DNA testing methods currently in use which would have been a valuable addition to her review.

Article No. 3: Fillichio, C. (2005). Getting ahead of the curve: Baltimore and CitiStat; CitiStat maximizes Baltimore's efficiency by using data from the city's 311 call center to manage agencies and adjust performance as necessary. The Public Manager, 34(2), 51-53.

The article was an excellent example of using existing it resources to gain the maximum value for law enforcement efforts as possible. The author notes that the city of Baltimore was experiencing an inordinately high crime rate and departmental budgets had been adversely affected by dwindling personal income and home values that had eroded the city's tax base. Therefore, the acquisition of expensive it resources was not feasible, but the city already had some it resources in use that were not being applied to law enforcement activities.As a result, the Baltimore police department adapted CompStat which could use the city's it resources to track areas with high crimes rates including assaults, burglaries and murders, that allowed a more efficient use of law enforcement resources. Since its inception in mid-2000, the application has grown to include data input from almost two dozen city agencies, with much of the data being routinely provided by these agencies anyway. Likewise, the CompStat application draws on archived digitized records as well as the city's 311 call manager operation to identify problem areas and allocate resources effectively.

The results of this initiative have been impressive. The low-cost approach to using existing it resources and information has resulted in a 48% reduction in violent crime, a trend that has continued since the city's adoption of the CompStat system to the point where Baltimore now leads the nation in violent crime reduction. The CompStat approach has also improved the administrative functions of the city's law enforcement agencies, including activities that were previously performed manually such as payroll, sick and accident leave, and overtime. Other uses for the CompStat system have also been used by the police in Baltimore to facilitate the towing of abandoned vehicles (which has increased by 22%) and the eradication of gang-related graffiti (by 2002, the city was removing four times as much graffiti as it was able to in 2000). Taken together, the police leadership in Baltimore has proven to be an excellent steward of the scarce resources it is provided by using existing it systems and information in innovative ways to fight crime and improve the quality of life for all citizens in the city. A valuable addition to this analysis would….....