News articles throughout the country and recent federal grant opportunities illustrate the increasing importance of crime analysts in law enforcement. However, many law enforcement officers will ask, “What can crime analysts actually do for me?” Crime analysis does benefit you, whether your assignment is in patrol, general/specialized investigations or other specialized unit. Crime analysis for investigations can easily be applied to other assignments.
Crime Analysis Defined
Crime analysts possess the most comprehensive sources of information in a case under their purview. They have the expertise to capture evidence within a crime report, call-for-service detail, field interview, arrest report or any other report completed as part of everyday law enforcement business. Generally, this information can be categorized as that which belongs to an event (e.g., location specifics, modus operandi, vehicle involved, weapon involved and/or property stolen) or that which belongs to a person (e.g., demographics and/or physical characteristics). The role of the analyst is to synthesize this information, often from multiple sources, and provide meaning and understanding so decision-makers can formulate better and more objective decisions. The analyst’s ultimate goal is to provide a product ready for action. There should be no need for additional interpretation or clarification by law enforcement officers after crime analysts have done their job.
Case Follow-Up
Crime analysis can provide information to help officers follow up on specific cases they’ve been assigned so they can quickly identify the suspect. Suppose you come in on a Monday morning and are assigned a case in which a woman was robbed in a grocery store parking lot. The suspect is identified in the report by the victim as a male in his early 20s, with a tattoo on the left side of his neck. She believes she saw him getting into the driver side of a silver Pontiac Grand Prix. Traditional case follow-up may suggest reviewing previous arrests or field interviews for individuals who match the description of the suspect or reviewing all traffic related calls for service or tickets that involve a silver Pontiac Grand Prix. However, the key is a combination of both factors. It’s the suspect who matches the description, and who can also be placed in a silver Pontiac Grand Prix. You may even think to search through other third-party information, such as all silver Pontiac Grand Prixs registered in your city or state.
In the end, traditional searching requires you to search independently one avenue—your suspect description—and then the other avenue—your vehicle description. Additionally, traditional searches will be time intensive and lead to multiple long lists that still require combining to find similarities but yield little actionable results.
Working with a crime analyst can lead to a short list of potential individuals who not only match the description but have previously been associated with the type of vehicle described. The finished product is produced efficiently and allows you, the assigned investigator and decision maker, to take action immediately. When following up on your details, the crime analyst will correlate any sources that contain person information, such as previous victims, witnesses, complainants, suspects or subjects, and those which contain a vehicle, such as traffic-related calls for service, traffic tickets, past and present stolen vehicles—even vehicles registered in your city or state together. The analyst won’t perform these searches independently or through a variety of Web sites or internal systems that have limited flexibility. They will perform these searches using internal and external sources that are flexible and allow for combining many data types.
Crime Series/Pattern Follow-Up
Crime analysis may significantly improve investigations if a series or crime pattern emerges. The following hypothetical situation—based on real circumstances—provides an example of how crime analysts can assist in your investigations.
Over the past three weeks, five burglaries have occurred at automotive parts stores in your community. Along with the similar business type (automotive parts stores), the burglaries have occurred around the same time of day, and surveillance video from adjacent businesses in two of the burglaries reveal a similarity in suspect description. Four different investigators throughout the investigations division have been assigned the cases, with one investigator receiving two of them. With alternate shifts, usual training and time off, the four investigators haven’t correlated the similarity in cases. The crime analyst, reviewing all burglary incidents, has determined the burglaries are a series targeting automotive parts stores. The analyst has provided detailed information on the pattern to key decision makers, investigations or district patrol commander(s) and has helped reveal potential suspects, but without significant result. In an effort to suppress the series or increase the potential of apprehending the suspect, covert deployments are suggested. Given that there are 23 automotive parts stores in the community, where do you deploy your covert resources?
The analyst, through deductive reasoning based on such sources as aerial photography and business profiles, reviews the five known burglaries for details. They consider not just what’s contained in the crime report, but factors about the location, proximity to highways and/or potential getaway routes. This, combined with information about days of week and times of day for repeat occurrence, can help determine the best possibilities for the next “targeted” location. Moreover, analysts can begin to turn from a role of assisting in the capacity of a tactical or investigative analyst in suppression or apprehension to one that supports problem-oriented policing.
Further, analysts can help determine what has created an attraction to this type of business. They can determine responses that will help business owners and managers reduce the likelihood for crime occurring at their stores. The intended goal is to create a self-sustaining solution to the crime problem that doesn’t need continual police intervention.
Determining Prolific Offenders
Crime analysts can assist in determining and targeting prolific offenders by examining source information on victims, witnesses, complainants, suspects or subjects. This can come in handy for investigators trying to get to the bottom of a crime.
Example: As an investigator who is assigned robbery cases, do you know who your most prolific offender is for robbery? And if you do, do you know for sure? Have you used previous case history or other data to confirm this information? Crime analysts can use objective data to determine your most prolific offender for any crime type, using specific criteria to reduce emotional and instinctive influences. The analysis product of prolific offenders will be immediately actionable for you to target and disrupt their behavior, as well as prepare you when the suspect reoffends.
Getting the Most from Analysts
As an investigator working with an analyst, you may find the relationship doesn’t always develop easily. However, the relationship between the investigator and analyst is crucial to overall success. Following are tips to obtain the most comprehensive and useful analysis from analysts.
Embrace and understand the role of the analyst: Analysts provide a unique function in a police department. They have exceptional technical skill, but are not formal information technology specialists. They have knowledge of police protocols and functions, and some may even be sworn officers or former sworn officers, but they generally function in an office. In the end, analysts provide an objective viewpoint with the aim of providing actionable knowledge for decision-makers to craft better decisions. In influencing decision-makers, analysts are helping the individual investigator work efficiently and allowing the police department to work smarter.
Carefully explain the case(s) or problem you are trying to solve: The majority of information in policing is obtained through interviews with a citizen or suspect about a crime or person of interest. As a result, much police business is based on asking for lists of predictable information: addresses, robberies within a specific beat, suspects/subjects fitting specific physical characteristics, etc. These lists independently are not analysis; they’re information that must be analyzed. Analysts will often ask follow-up questions, even some that investigators may not have thought of, to more completely contextualize the crime. Analysts will take that detailed information and provide a workable list of potential suspects that meet the investigator’s descriptions, as well as furnish further defining characteristics, as appropriate. This information can be used immediately by police.
Don’t assume you know what an analyst can do: As the crime analyst profession progresses, technology and analyst capabilities are changing rapidly. Once an investigator has carefully explained the case, an analyst will begin to think about the best way to provide you the information needed. Allow the knowledge, skill, ability and creativity of the analyst to drive the process and fuse the information you have provided into a final product you may never have anticipated possible. Often, you’ll receive maps, charts, graphs or other products that exceed your expectations. And if you happen to obtain a product that doesn’t contain any of the information you needed or is simply confusing, let the analyst know. They can’t improve without feedback.
Conclusion
In conclusion, take the time to sit down with an analyst. Learn about their role. Develop a relationship. Provide all of the details of the case(s) you are working. Give the analyst room to use their skills, abilities and creativity, but also provide feedback on the product. Importantly, inform the analyst of the outcome of the case, as it relates to the work that they completed.
The bottom line:
Let analysts help you conduct efficient, analysis-driven investigations.