Information Builders used WebFOCUSand Arc/IMS from ESRI to create this interactive crime portal, whichdisplays real-time views of incidents, arrests, 911 calls, and other eventsthroughout the dispatch area. Soon, Erlanger citizens will be able toaccess some of this information via a public-facing website, so they cancheck on crime occurring in their neighborhoods.
As the system reaches full production mode this summer, Chief Fields saidhe believes it will enable the department to better deploy its force basedon their insight into current and expected criminal activity. Ultimatelythis will reduce the cost of operations through more efficient crimesolving techniques. "With the comparatively small amount of resources wehave devoted to law enforcement, being able to address specific areas andproblems will help us reduce overall crime, and even prevent some crimesfrom occurring," he predicted.
According to the May 2008 report, "Search + BI = Unified InformationAccess," by Boris Evelson and Matthew Brown, principal analysts atForrester Research, "Fortunately for information workers (and the corporatelibrarians, database managers, and BI report developers who support them),the process of digging up desired information and actually putting it touse is getting easier as the worlds of search and BI converge. Thetechnology is quite close to being able to capture the linkages needed tohelp decision-makers avoid mistakes and make more insightful, effectivedecisions. The convergence of BI and search will help bridge the artificialsystem boundaries between structured data and unstructured content. It willnot only affect the interfaces we use to search for, discover, analyze, andreport on what we need to know, but help us learn more about what we don'tknow."(1)
"Erlanger PD's work with crime data is a model for many other lawenforcement agencies," said Gerald Cohen, CEO and founder, InformationBuilders. "Search engines are designed to index and track Web pages, butnot necessarily database transactions. BI systems are designed for reporting and historical analysis, but not always for simplesearches. Combining the two technologies in this way can yield powerfulresults."
About the Erlanger Kentucky Police Department
Erlanger, known as The Friendship City, is located in the heart of theGreater Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky metropolitan region in northwesternKenton County, Kentucky. It has a population of approximately 22,000residents.
