Dashboard is the next evolution of Compstat, the computer crime mapping program that has morphed into iterations that analyze everything from crime protection to the preserving the Chesapeake Bay. The idea is to give workers real-time information so they can quickly identify patterns and deploy.
The technology is moving out of fancy "war rooms" and into offices, and maybe soon into patrol cars. Police in Washington contribute to the Dashboard, and Mahoney said they will likely feed the mapping program as well. Mahoney's team recently handed the D.C. police chief a map showing 694 juveniles who committed crimes in Maryland but live in the district, clustered around two Metro lines.
Dashboard and the maps stem from the state's Violence Prevention Initiative, in which 2,300 violent offenders on probation - 1,540 are in Baltimore - are singled out for scrutiny because of their "high propensity for committing future violent crimes."
Homicides in Baltimore dropped from 431 in the 18 months before the program started in July 2007 to 361 in the 18 months after. Likewise, shootings in the city dropped from 1,028 to 867 during the same time.
The maps are generated by researchers at Washington College on the Eastern Shore, using a $150,000 state grant. The college is asking for $200,000 next year.
The maps are impressive, but police need to be careful.
Prince George's County police, for example, wanted to compare home addresses of the most prolific users of pawnshops to burglary hot spots. The map shows a guy who pawned up to $50,000 of merchandise in six months living in the middle of an area hit hard by burglaries in Landover. In Baltimore, there's the map showing clusters of violent offenders who live near bars.
The maps are certainly fascinating and raise legitimate suspicion, but do they prove the guy who likes to use pawnshops broke into homes or that people on probation shouldn't live near bars? Is there even a crime problem at these bars?
The maps and data might lead to more patrols and tighter scrutiny, might even be combined with other intelligence to build a criminal case. In the end, police will be judged not only on the usefulness of the information but also on how they use it. It shouldn't be dismissed as Orwellian, but the cops need to understand its Orwellian potential.
