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April 9, 2007 Richmond Police Department Wins Gartner's 2007 BI Excellence AwardEnterprise Platform Based on Integrated ESRI and Information Builders TechnologiesRedlands, California—The Richmond, Virginia, Police Department was recently honored with the Gartner 2007 Business Intelligence (BI) Excellence Award. The department received the award for its innovative enterprise platform, which takes advantage of powerful geographic information system (GIS) mapping and analysis capabilities combined with BI technologies. The annual BI Excellence Award honors an enterprise implementation that most clearly demonstrates excellence in its business intelligence initiatives. The award was presented at the Gartner BI Summit, which was held March 12–14 in Chicago, Illinois. "We're honored to receive this award," says Rodney Monroe, police chief of the Richmond Police Department. "Our vision was to use information to more accurately understand what was going on and where, in the fastest time possible. Instead of reacting to crime, we wanted to be proactive to predict where future crime might happen. We've accomplished these goals, and as a result, we're maximizing resources to lower crime and provide better service." When Chief Monroe first joined the City of Richmond, he met with city information technology (IT) staff, who communicated the possibilities that exist in using technology and information as a tool to fight crime. He provided the leadership to have the city Police Department meet with ESRI business partner Information Builders, based in New York City, to outline department goals and see how technology might be deployed to meet these objectives. The system was rolled out in a phased implementation beginning in 2005. It was developed using Information Builders' flagship WebFOCUS software for BI capabilities and ESRI's ArcGIS software for spatial analysis and visualization. SPSS' Clementine solution provides the statistical analysis functionality. The system provides predictive crime analysis, data mining, reporting, and GIS capabilities throughout the agency. Data from the records management system and other databases is integrated and analyzed on a continuous basis. Customized results, based on individual specifications, are provided to different users from front line police officers to commanders. GIS capabilities enable officers to look at specific types of crime for a given area and perform various crime mapping and analysis functions. Users can pan and zoom in on a digital view of a neighborhood, block, or street and see buildings, houses, parks, empty lots, road networks, and more. Users can also view maps of crime density or "hot spots" by location or view maps based on crime type, such as burglary or car theft, to see specific incidents within a ZIP Code, neighborhood, city district, or other user-defined area. Aerial photos and data for weather, complaint time of day, case history, associated suspects, and more can be integrated as well. The result is a sophisticated data model of criminal activity with a user-defined set of elements that characterize probable future criminal behavior. Alerts can then be sent to individuals and departments when a crime spike occurs, again based on user-defined criteria. The technology platform has helped the agency achieve dramatic results. The city lowered crime rates and dropped from 5th to 15th in "dangerous city" rankings, including a 21 percent reduction in major crime from 2005 to 2006. So far in 2007, major crime is down an additional 19 percent. By year's end, the city is expected to drop out of the top 25 dangerous city rankings. "The Richmond Police Department is an excellent example of how organizations and businesses can succeed using combined business intelligence and GIS," says Steve Trammell, alliance representative, ESRI. "They are doing remarkable work that is a model for other police departments." # # # Press Information: |
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