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Project Goal
Cincinnati Police Department recognized that theft from autos was driving citywide property crime in early 2015. As part of an outreach campaign, CPD utilized story maps to illustrate high-risk locations and educate the public on how best to reduce their risk of becoming a theft from auto victim. A public meeting was held on May 6 to educate the public and launch the interactive map illustrating the high-risk locations and providing information about how to contact your community officers. This type of information-sharing platform was new to the Police Department and the city itself. This project launched a GIS-based initiative to centralize data and other work products.Business Problem Solved
The problem solved was informing the public about their risk of theft from autos. Most theft from autos in Cincinnati is entirely preventable because people leave valuable items in plain sight in their vehicles. The interactive received tremendous positive feedback and garnered local media attention. However, the city did not see significant reductions in theft from autos. 2015 saw an increase in several areas of crime compared to the three-year average. The hope is that this story map will soon be real-time utilizing ArcGIS GeoEvent Extension for Server so that information can stay relevant for the public.
Technology Implemented
The theft from auto project utilized ArcGIS Online & Story Maps. At the time the project was developed, Beth (the architect behind the story map) utilized a free trial for ArcGIS Online, not realizing the resources that CAGIS had available. Up until this point, Cincinnati Police did not utilize CAGIS tools and personnel in the slightest. The theft from auto project really launched a relationship between CAGIS and CPD that is blossoming into something promising for public safety. Out of this project, CPD is able to tap into a greater amount of resources that supported various CPD projects, including the new launch of PIVOT (Place-based Investigations of Violent Offender Territories; utilizing several spatial statistics tools) and the integration of GIS into the forthcoming computer-aided dispatch (CAD) launching in October.
Development Team Biography
Beth Christenson: Beth was the architect behind the theft from auto story map working on the visualization and how to consume the data. In March of 2016 Beth was promoted to Senior Computer Programmer Analyst with the Emergency Communications Section overseeing GIS and data management for CPD, including the new dispatch system. Blake Christenson –Blake assisted in the analysis of theft from auto data in Cincinnati. His experience in the crime analysis unit and expertise in the data was vital in developing the story map. Blake has since become the Senior Crime Analyst over the Crime Analysis & Problem Solving Unit providing work products that are reliant on GIS-based analysis. Special thanks to the command staff Joe Milek, Lt. Matthew Hammer, Captain Maris Herold and Lt. Colonel Whalen for their support and encouragement of pursuing such analysis for public consumption. Special thanks to everyone at CAGIS who quickly turned to assisting CPD to get the story map on ArcGIS Online.