IBM to help Rochester Police Department fight crime

The Rochester Police Department will use advanced analytics software from IBM to mine, share and extract intelligence from critical data in order to improve police investigative and prevention programs. By identifying incident patterns the police department can forecast crime “hot spots” and proactively allocate resources accordingly.

The project in Rochester is part of a growing trend among local governments around the world to establish Smarter Cities where safety and services for citizens are improved through new technologies while preserving government budget resources.

Schaumburg, Ill.-based Alpine Consulting will work with the Rochester Police Department to deliver a sophisticated police analytics platform that utilizes the IBM Smarter Cities framework. Alpine was chosen because of its substantial background working with public safety, state and local governments and commercial organizations with Identity Insight to mitigate threat and fraud.

The IBM InfoSphere Identity Insight software allows its first responder team to expand proactive, community-driven approaches to police work by enabling staff to drill down on information that resides within the city’s databases to quickly identify and respond to issues.

“One of the most effective ways to reduce crime in cities is to apply analytics technology to public safety to identify crime patterns,” says Mark Cleverley, director, IBM Global Public Safety. “Law enforcement is able to gain valuable insight and focus resources on proactive policing efforts to improve citizen services.”

The Rochester Police Department's goal is to provide more effective police services to the community through the adoption of intelligence-led policing methods. “With increased and more meaningful access to information, our officers will be able to respond to incidents more effectively than ever before,” says Lt. Tim Heroff. “Working with IBM technology we are able to better manage performance and risks and gain greater insight across operations to improve public safety for our citizens.”

The Rochester Police Department project demonstrates the enormous promise of new technologies to help public officials better manage their vast array of data, leading to the creation of Smarter Cities. IBM has more than 2,000 Smarter Cities engagements underway around the world, helping municipalities manage public services such as emergency response, crime, traffic and water systems more efficiently.