CRIME ANALYSIS GROUP ORGANIZES
IN NORTHERN ILLINOIS

By KAREN M. HENRIKSON, City of Des Plaines, Illinois
Public Relations Director

A group of law enforcement crime analysis officers from the northwest suburbs of Chicago are quickly changing the notion that computerization and automation are associated only with the mundane task of data collection and retention. Quite the contrary, this recently organized group calling themselves the Illinois Crime Analysis Microcomputing Association (ICAMA) meets every other month, exchanges ideas on specific programs (including the software kind) and even publishes a newsletter.

It all started when Des Plaines Police Officer Neil Loewe, assigned as the Department's Crime Analyst since 1990, sent a teletype message to State Police district #2, #3, #4, and #5 using the statewide computerized Law Enforcement Agencies Data System (LEADS) announcing that any police crime analysts and computer operators interested in forming an association should meet at the Des Plaines Police Department at 10 AM on December 14, 1990.

The response was very encouraging. Over thirty crime analysts, sworn officers and civilians, from the suburban area, including Naperville, Elgin and Winnebago Counties attended the meeting. During the course of the year I.C.A.M.A. was formed and now includes representation by the following police agencies: Des Plaines, Naperville, Wheeling, Park Ridge, Schaumburg, Woodridge, Elgin, Palos Heights, Skokie, Oak Park and the Cook County Sheriff. Officer Loewe was elected president and Officer Joe Budde, Naperville, Secretary/Treasurer.

Besides acting as a network for the exchange of information regarding the collection of specific statistics or trends, the group brainstorms and shares ideas concerning computer program software. Crime analysis is a valuable tool for today's law enforcement. For example a department might request an analysis of burglaries to vehicles. Computers provide the capability of retrieving the date, time, and location of the incidents. In doing so, it is possible to detect trends. Once the data is collected specific computer graphic software allows the analyst to graphically show the situation with maps, pie charts, bar graphs, line drawings, etc.

In Des Plaines, crime analysis has been helpful in determining how to schedule workloads. "Through resource allocation I was able to determine workloads and the appropriate manpower for the holiday schedules by compiling information from the previous 5 years. This type of information retrieval system allows the administration to trace a problem, where its been, and how it can be addressed," Officer Loewe said.

One of the suggestions that Officer Loewe has incorporated into developing the department's daily bulletins was shared by Elgin Police Department's Diana Grubb, who happens to be a civilian crime analyst. Thanks to Grubb's suggestions and a desktop publishing software program, the Des Plaines Daily Bulletin has been enhanced to include photographs and intelligence information regarding field contacts by patrol officers.

One of Grubb's responsibilities in Elgin is the publication of a computer generated bulletin twice a week that provides pertinent information such as tracing and mapping by police beat five major categories of infor-

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mation (robbery, sexual offense, burglary, burglary to vehicle, and stolen vehicles). In addition, the publication lists stolen gun and officer safety information.

"The bulletin has been received very positively by all department personnel, from administrative to the officers. I expected the detectives to read it, but it is extremely satisfying when a patrol officer comments favorably on the bulletin as to its helpfulness with his/her work in the field."

Quite recently, Grubb used statistics to enhance a community fundraising effort to supply vests to officers. Data concerning local criminal activity was presented indicating that there was a need for outfitting officers with vests.

The Des Plaines Police Department is a member of the Police Information Management System (P.I.M.S.), one component of the Criminal Justice Information Authority's computerized information system for law enforcement, prosecution and correctional agencies. P.I.M.S. has been available to law enforcement agencies throughout the state since 1981. Currently there are approximately 60 agencies that are P.I.M.S. members. Des Plaines has been a member since 1982.

P.I.M.S. has always had a vast capacity of data collection, but until the crime analyst position became a part of the department structure in Des Plaines, it was not utilized to its full capacity concerning crime analysis. "Our P.I.M.S. has been upgraded and enhanced since its initial installation, but we did not have the manpower to use it to its full capacity," Officer Loewe said.

According to Support Services Division Commander, Captain Bruce Williams, crime analysis had been performed for years in the Des Plaines Police Department, but methods of retrieving and compiling information has been rather primitive before computerization and a need for a crime analysis officer was identified and Officer Loewe was assigned. "In our case, Officer Loewe uses his practical knowledge, that which he acquired from actually working on the street, to identify crime trends and patterns. He may see corre-

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lations concerning various crimes and knows what to look for," Captain Williams said.

According to Williams, crime analysis involves converting bare statistics into trends. Crime analysis allows us to operate more efficiently. In addition to watching trends and planning manpower allocations, crime analysis and microcomputing allows for the examination of budgetary concerns.

Naperville's Crime Analysis Officer Joe Budde explained that his position developed as part of the department's efforts to become professionally accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (C.A.L.E.A.). Crime analysis units are required as part of the accreditation process and Budde, already familiar with P.I.M.S., was a natural.

Budde uses crime analysis and microcomputing to develop two bulletins a week for the department. The one bulletin helps to the trends concerning Index crimes, gang activity (should any have occurred) and cases of interest such as suspicious activity, suspicious persons and extra patrol requirements. Budde shares his bulletin with other surrounding police departments. A separate bulletin published by Budde is devoted to current field contacts and field interview cards, patrol alerts, and targeted problems.

"Crime analysis allows us to take a 'proactive police approach.' We have had occasions where we traced damage to property incidents and were able to predict when it might happen again based on past trends. And we were ready for the perpetrators when they returned," Budde said.

As Secretary/Treasurer of the ICAMA, Budde is enthusiastic about the organization's development, seeing the objective of the group to share intelligence regarding crime analysis. Department membership dues for ICAMA are $25.00 which covers up to three members per department. Guest speakers are scheduled for the meetings, as well as software demonstrations. For example, at the January meeting, Officer Loewe demonstrated a program which allows professionally designed forms to be easily produced on a P.C. The particular program includes form filler software

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that allows you to fill forms in on the screen while it saves information to a disk for future use.

Since forming ICAMA, Loewe has become acquainted with the International Association of Crime Analysts. The international organisation holds seminars on an annual basis and covers topics pertinent to the local criminal analysts. The international organization deals with the same type of information exchange on a larger scale, while ICAMA is capable of addressing the needs of area agencies on a more localized basis.

"We are planning our own seminar entitled "Tactical Crime Analysis" for May 6, 7, & 8, 1992. The four day seminar, co-sponsored by the Criminal Justice Services (CJS) and the American Association of Retired Persons, will be held at the Schaumburg, Illinois Police Department, 1000 W. Schaumburg Rd. The session will be designed for professionals who want to start a crime analysis unit or who want to expand existing efforts, law enforcement supervisors, line officers and volunteers," Officer Loewe said.

Anyone interested in joining ICAMA should call Officer Loewe at (708) 391-5458 or Officer Joe Budde at 420-4169. •

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