In the mornings, I check in at the health club using an app on my smartphone, track my swim laps and heart rate with a smartwatch, rely on a navigation app to tell me how long it will take to get home in traffic, tell my smart speaker to play my favorite radio station and rest assured that the pressure in my tires is adequate, thanks to the absence of an alert from tire pressure sensors. When I get home, a Bluetooth sensor in my cat’s collar tells me where she’s hiding.
All these conveniences of modern living have, in less than two decades, become nearly ubiquitous, accelerated by the pandemic when apps, video calls and streaming entertainment replaced in-person interactions. These technologies rely on strong and stable internet connections, sparking investment in infrastructure like 5G networks to the benefit of all.
Even law enforcement agencies – constrained not so much by an aversion to technology but by budget restraints – have gotten into the action. Technologies that may otherwise have taken years to develop and even longer to adopt entered the market and have quickly asserted themselves into the day-to-day work of law enforcement.
Today, internet-based apps that resemble consumer apps in their ease of use – but enhanced with security features needed by law enforcement – give citizens the ability to file minor accident reports, monitor police activity and crime data in their neighborhoods, and report crime tips and leads via social media.
Many law enforcement agencies have come to realize that certain internet-available tools not only reduce some of the administrative burden by automating processes and letting citizens self-report, but the information gathered from these and other sources like CCTV and traffic safety cameras can also increase situational awareness and speed, strengthen investigations and help officers do their jobs more safely.
INTERNET OF THINGS KEEPS OFFICERS INFORMED, SAFE AND ACCOUNTABLE
Most patrol vehicles are equipped with an assortment of cameras, but sophisticated Internet of Things (IoT) devices embedded with sensors, software and other technologies enable them to do more with the patrol vehicle, like connect to and exchange data with other internet-connected devices and systems to improve officer situational awareness, safety and accountability.
Seamlessly and behind the scenes, IoT devices can detect when a firearm is unlocked from the gun rack, lights and sirens are engaged or an officer opens the door. Taking any of these actions automatically activates the officer’s body-worn camera recording.
Away from the patrol vehicle, officers carry or wear devices like smartphones, smartwatches, smart holsters and bodycams. Sensors in the devices can detect when an officer unholsters their weapon, starts running or goes prone and send alerts to nearby officers via the department’s CAD system. Because a GPS receiver is embedded in these devices, command staff, dispatch and responding units can pinpoint the officer’s location with incredible accuracy and track the officer’s location in real time.
In addition to using IoT devices to increase officer safety and accountability, police departments in “smart cities” are partnering with other governmental, public and private resources to improve traffic safety, prevent and investigate crime, foster positive community relations and keep communities safer.
DALLAS USES DATA TO REDUCE CRIME
Dallas, Texas, an early adopter of “smart city” initiatives, is using data analysis to reduce crime.
Like many other cities, the Dallas Police Department operates a real-time crime center (RTCC) to exchange and disseminate information and intelligence data related to criminal activity, criminal enterprises and suspected terrorist activity. DPD also allows residents, businesses or organizations to register cameras, via an online portal, as a way for the department to easily locate the nearest cameras in a designated area during an investigation, emergency event or emergency response. As with RTCCs in other cities, DPD shares information with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to combat criminal activity and provide real-time tactical intelligence to officers in the field.
Along with additional data sources like license plate readers and fixed camera systems, Dallas’ data-driven crime prevention efforts are paying off.
In Dallas – as in most cities – violent crime is geographically concentrated in a relatively small number of areas. But thanks to the DPD’s use of data analytics to inform a three-pronged, evidence-based strategic plan to reduce street-level violence across the city, violent street crime was reduced by almost 14% from 2022 to 2023. Dallas even won a Smart Cities North America Award for its Violent Crime Evidence-Based Reduction Plan, highlighting its use of real-time crime centers, analytics and other components of data-driven policing.
The award arose from efforts begun in 2021 when DPD began implementation of a comprehensive data-informed plan to reduce violent street crime in the city. Based on crime analysis, DPD mapped the city into a series of grids the size of football fields and identified the areas where most violent crime in the city was concentrated. These areas were identified for “hot spot policing.” According to Dallas’ Crime Reduction Plan (CRP), “the strategy is evidence-based and relies on increased police visibility and intelligence-led offender targeting rather than generalized ‘stop and frisk’ or other dragnet tactics.”
Based on local geographic features and other strategic considerations, DPD commanders assigned half of the grids to receive a high-visibility (HV) treatment that involved dispatching a patrol car to sit stationary with lights on for approximately 15 minutes during peak crime hours and days of the week.
The other half of the grids received an offender-focused (OF) treatment that involved deploying crime response teams (CRTs) to the OF grids to identify repeat violent or other high-risk offenders who lived in or frequented the targeted grids. The CRTs served outstanding warrants, conducted surveillance, made street and traffic stops of targeted offenders, conducted investigations and wrote and executed search warrants. Both treatment approaches were supported by bike team and portable pole cameras to gather street-level intelligence.i
The approach was hailed as being less heavy-handed than other tactics that often damage citizen-police relationships and, importantly, crime was not displaced from grid areas to surrounding areas. One study showed that “both offender-focused and lighter footprint high visibility deterrence strategies are valuable approaches that police departments can readily employ to combat crime in small areas.”
In addition to hot spot policing, Dallas’ CRP also includes “placed network investigations” (PNIs) designed to identify and disrupt networks of criminogenic places that disproportionately contribute to violent crime. Another pillar of Dallas’ CRP is “focused deterrence” which includes coordinating with other city agencies like code enforcement and waste disposal to clean up blighted areas that contribute to crime and violence-prevention organizations to provide alternatives to gang and other criminal activity.
PNI and focused deterrence are two strategies that rely on collaboration and the exchange of data sources from multiple agencies, departments and organizations. The use of data to identify areas for hot spot policing, measure effectiveness and support the crime prevention strategies employed was critical.
“Data analysis drives our violent crime plan,” said Kristin Lowman, assistant director, media relations at Dallas Police Department. “Research and data determine the grids for our hot spot policing, placed network investigations and even focused deterrence.”
HOW ATLANTA IMPROVES COMMUNITY RELATIONS THROUGH DATA TRANSPARENCY
The placement of “smart city” technologies like “smart streetlights” and collaborations that exchange police data with data obtained from other public and private sources is not only making communities safer, it’s alleviating the burden of 911 dispatch centers and police departments to respond to problems better addressed to other city departments or organizations.
Mike O’Connor, a 27-year law enforcement veteran and retired deputy chief of Atlanta Police Department, has seen a collaborative effort to crime prevention work.
With over 16,000 public and private cameras integrated into a video surveillance center, Atlanta boasts one of the biggest and most established public-private surveillance camera networks in the country. Connect Atlanta, described as the core of the Atlanta Police Foundation’s smart policing initiative, is an integrated system that uses state-of-the-art technology to connect APD, local businesses and citizens with real-time surveillance and police response.
Getting citizens involved in the integrated video system has helped Connect Atlanta emerge as a valuable crime-fighting tool. Using an analytics platform to aggregate and analyze data from the video surveillance system and other data sources can lead to faster resolution of criminal investigations.
“Imagine you find your home burglarized,” O’Connor said. “We can send a request to your neighborhood block in an email saying ‘Laura’s home was burglarized today. Do you have anything suspicious on either your Ring door camera or the camera you’ve registered with us? If you have any footage, please drag and drop it into this email and send it to us.’”
Making operational decisions based on crime analysis is easier and more efficient with a real-time decision and operations management platform like Peregrine. Being able to map crime and identify trends helps command staff make real-time, data-driven decisions about where to patrol and when for maximum effectiveness and the most efficient deployment of resources.
O’Connor has seen this approach work in cases where an isolated incident can have an outsized impact on a community’s feeling of safety. Preparing for community meetings with real-time data that police representatives can display on an easy-to-understand dashboard can smooth relationships and assure residents the police department is responsive to their concerns. “They can use this dashboard to share all this information with the neighborhood planning unit leaders and all the people who attend the meeting about what their crime problems are and what initiatives are being done to address those problems,” he said.
“SMART CITY” TECHNOLOGIES CREATE A SAFETY NET
Law enforcement uses are just one application of smart technologies like sensors, cameras and other IoT devices. From Singapore to Stuttgart, Tokyo to Tel Aviv and Dallas to Dubai, smart cities across the globe are laying out the global policy roadmap on “smart city” technologies.
In Memphis, panoramic cameras equipped with AI algorithms are mounted on the fronts of city buses to detect potholes and send repair tickets to city road crews. This is not only improving the quality of the roadways by speeding repairs, it’s reducing calls to 311 and 911 for non-emergencies.
In Pittsburgh, building has begun on a high-tech traffic management center that will improve traffic flow on major corridors and help traffic operators make data-driven decisions about mitigation efforts including signal timing, traffic metering and information dissemination through dynamic signage.
In Dallas, efforts are underway to create a smart traffic signal ecosystem that can be adapted to changing situational needs in near real-time to improve efficiency and safety of transport in nonstandard circumstances, enabling traffic management to dynamically update traffic signal timing during an accident or heavy traffic scenario. This will benefit citizens, the environment and first responders who will need to respond to fewer accidents.
In Dallas and Atlanta, smart streetlights with lighting sensors that adjust to time of day and weather conditions are integrated with cameras and free Wi-Fi in underresourced neighborhoods.
THE BENEFITS OF SHARING DATA
Interconnected, smart technologies like camera systems and real-time crime centers, sensor-equipped streetlights, environmental sensors that monitor air and water quality, and connected sensors and emergency systems that alert first responders to emergencies even before the first 911 call are improving public safety and quality of life.
“Partnerships are key in fighting and preventing crime across our city. They also enable us to better serve our communities, deploying resources where needed and partnering to provide clear communication across departments,” said Lowman. “We share data to provide information on our online portals in an effort to be transparent about crime in our city, and also to improve quality of life.”
Implementing smart technology, integrating the data and sharing it across departments not only provides for a cleaner environment, better informed citizenry, reduced crime and more transparent and accountable law enforcement, it creates an environment where people can feel safe and thrive.
