Intelligent Maps for SY Police...

07 August 2007, 2:52pm

South Yorkshire Police Fights Crime with Intelligent Maps

South Yorkshire Police saves over £600k per year with new mapping technology from ESRI (UK)

South Yorkshire Police has launched a force-wide Intranet crime mapping solution using ESRI (UK)’s geographic information system (GIS) technology that is increasing responsiveness and saving the Police Force over £50,000 per month in efficiency gains.

The initiative is on course to save South Yorkshire Police over £620,000 in its first year, following a successful pilot that demonstrated cost savings of over £100,000 in 58 days.

South Yorkshire Police is one of the first police forces in the country to introduce a web-based intelligence mapping system. Internally known as the Intranet Mapping Service (IMS), the solution gives all members of the force access to crime and anti-social behaviour information. South Yorkshire Police already has a GIS analytical capacity – based on ESRI (UK)’s Crime Analyst product – which enables police force analysts to produce the latest neighbourhood specific crime trends and high level resource allocation data. The IMS now gives police officers direct access to the results of this analysis via the intranet, up to 20 times faster than making a traditional request via the analyst.

The IMS has been designed to help inform decision-making across the service. For example, an Inspector is now able to open the Police Force’s intranet browser and within moments get up-to-date crime and anti-social behaviour information that details repeat victimisation, crime counts, or incidents for specific areas. Real time efficiency savings are also significant. For example, an analyst who wants to examine robberies in a specific area can now obtain this information in two minutes using the IMS as opposed to 40 minutes using South Yorkshire Police’s previous methods.

The ESRI (UK) crime mapping solution has been implemented as part of South Yorkshire Police’s drive to meet Home Office targets, for example reducing crime in priority areas such as Sheffield by 15%.

Mark Hamilton, GIS manager, South Yorkshire Police said: “The IMS is providing us with significant business benefits, making it easier for the Force’s decision makers to allocate resources based on informed decisions. With better insight into crime trends on a mapped system, officers can concentrate their efforts on combating crime in neighbourhood hotspots.

“ESRI (UK) has been very committed to ensuring that the pilot was delivered in a speedy timeframe. We’ve already had excellent feedback from members of the Force who’ve found IMS easy to use and an asset to their decision making.”

South Yorkshire Police analysts are updating the mapping data on a fortnightly basis, in line with NIM (National Intelligence Model) tasking processes. In the next twelve months, South Yorkshire Police plans to integrate the latest ESRI ArcGIS 9.2 software, so that IMS’s capabilities can be further enhanced, for example, users will be able to request specific time periods of crime information.

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