BAY CITY, MI (WNEM) -
The Bay City Police Department is the first law enforcement agency in the state of Michigan and one of approximately 40 (police and fire) nationwide to be using this advanced crime mapping software.
The department applied for and received a grant from the State of Michigan to fund this advanced crime mapping software which became operational as of Feb. 17.
For example if there is a rash of car accidents in one part of the city, this software will track it and notify the people in charge. Then the department could put more traffic cops in that area to make sure drivers are following the rules of the road. Bay City Police Chief Michael Cecchini says this software will allow his department to work smarter, and staff the department more efficiently.
"It's a lot cheaper to have a software program to do this analysis for us than hiring another employee," Cecchini said.
For years, the Bay City Police Department has been utilizing crime mapping technology to conduct police operations and have been able to reduce the number of serious crimes and traffic accidents despite the reduction in staffing. Prior to this software, a dedicated analysis and dissemination of geospatial data had to be done manually. This latest technological initiative, CrimeView Dashboard, will allow information to be presented in a near real time snapshot without the need for in-depth analysis. The information is presented in charts, graphs and on detailed maps of the city. This will assist the command staff in the deployment of officers, the detectives in investigating criminal activity and trends and the officers on patrol where and when crime and traffic accidents are taking place.
The Bay City Police Department currently uses a number of programs; ARMS (area reporting management system) for criminal incident reporting, ReportBeam (traffic accidents) along with the Bay County CAD (computer aided dispatch). Our latest technological initiative ties together the information from several programs and from several agencies within Saginaw and Bay Counties which maps the information in a format custom tailored for the end user.
This data-driven approach to crime and traffic incidents in conjunction with the new software establishes an effective and efficient method for deploying our resources to problem areas within the city.
For more information on this software click on the following link:
http://www.theomegagroup.com/police/crime_mapping_solutions.html
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