The Cathedral City Police Department is trying to take advantage of changing technology in its war against crime.

Speaking to about 50 people at Wednesday’s Chamber of Commerce Power Luncheon at the Doral Desert Princess Resort, Chief Kevin Conner outlined strategies his department is or will be taking.

Steps include:

• Using a $100,000 state grant on installing video equipment in 25 department vehicles.
• If city leaders approve the purchase, cameras may be installed as early as midsummer, Lt. Chuck Robinson said after the luncheon.
• Launching a campaign to encourage residents to volunteer their time with the department.
• Making sure Spanish-speaking staff will be available to communicate with local Spanish media.
• Linking the department’s website to raidsonline.com, which allows residents to look up crime history in specific parts of town.

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Police plan on using social media to reach residents

A recent article in East Valley Living highlighted decreased crime and improved community satisfaction in Tempe, AZ. Tempe’s crime rate decreased by 14.9% since 2009.  This is the fourth consecutive year of decreased crime in the city.

“There’s not something we can specifically pinpoint the decrease in crime to, but we have worked very hard to arm our officers with the criminal intelligence needed to spend their time in the right places to prevent crime,” said Sgt. Steven Carbajal.

Tempe Police Department has been a BAIR customer since early 2001 when analysts at Tempe began using BAIR’s keystone product, ATAC Workstation. ATAC Workstation makes it easier for analysts to identify patterns in crime data, predict where next events will occur, and allocate police resources accordingly.

This past year, Tempe Police Department joined BAIR’s free public crime map, www.raidsonline.com, which keeps their citizens informed about recent crime activity.  RAIDS Online helps law enforcement provide useful, up-to-date crime information and alerts to the public.  Tempe PD began uploading crime data to RAIDS Online as a means to keep their officers informed about recent crime activity.  Tempe’s crime analysis unit incorporates maps from RAIDS Online into weekly crime reports.  These reports include crime hotspot maps created with RAIDS Online, which are used by police executives to identify high-crime areas and deploy officers accordingly.

Residents of Tempe can access RAIDS Online and use the same mapping and analytic dashboard as the police department.  Residents were informed of the new public crime mapping service through a G.A.I.N. (Getting Arizona Involved in Neighborhood) kick-off meeting in October 2010.  Feedback from residents has been extremely positive.

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Article posted in BAIR Pressroom.

Springdale recently became the first city in Arkansas to join RAIDS Online. They have shared over 13,000 incidents in RAIDS Online, dating back to November, 2008.  RAIDS Online is offered at absolutely no cost to law enforcement agencies, so Springdale is able to save valuable budget dollars while providing this service to their public. Click here to view Springdale’s crime data in RAIDS Online.

RAIDS Online syncs with the Springdale’s records system to automatically upload crime information and keep it updated on the map. It uses Google Maps to display the location and basic information for crimes. Users can choose which crimes and date range are displayed on the map and can also view the data in an analytics dashboard which automatically updates when the user adjusts filters.  Residents can also stay informed about crime by signing up for crime activity reports that are conveniently emailed automatically on a daily, weekly or monthly schedule.