Police in Fayetteville, North Carolina, now have a solution that makes meaningful information available to officers and analysts throughout the department, in real-time. MARVLIS Forecast LE processes and analyzes data from multiple sources and presents information in easy to understand maps and charts, empowering members of the department to make informed decisions and take a proactive approach to preventing crime. Fayetteville Police Department also used this new technology to help manage resources and track the unfolding emergency during the flooding caused by Hurricane Matthew.

Law enforcement agencies have vast amounts of data—arrest and incident reports, criminal databases, and more—yet often find it time consuming and overwhelming to analyze them in a meaningful way. Once analysts compile the information, it is frequently days (or even weeks) out-of-date. Now, with a new software solution, law enforcement agencies both large and small have access to information from multiple sources, in real-time, when it is most impactful.

Like departments across the nation, Fayetteville has been using data to analyze crime patterns and deploy resources for several years, following the “CompStat” model developed in the mid-90s by the New York City Police Department. But in the past, preparing for weekly CompStat meetings required many hours from Fayetteville Police Department’s crime analysts as they compiled information from multiple sources, created charts and graphs, and prepared for possible questions. And almost as soon as one meeting ended, they began preparing for the next, leaving little to no time to actually analyze the information.

MARVLIS Forecast LE, from Bradshaw Consulting Services, has reduced weekly prep time by 86% and freed the crime analysts to focus on preventing crime and work closely with detectives to solve specific cases. Now the entire force has access to real-time data, in easy to view dashboards and map displays.

Chief Harold Medlock (ret.) sees an additional benefit: improving transparency and engagement with the community. Fayetteville police leaders often display the dashboards during community meetings or even in one-on-conversations using mobile devices, with the goal of sharing the most current and accurate information.

“We provide this information to the public so that they can help us in crime prevention efforts,” Medlock says. “There’s nothing that we have here that we shouldn’t share. In fact, every bit of data we have is owned by the public. We’re as transparent as we can be.”

For more information on how Fayetteville is using analytics to improve operational effectiveness and community engagement, go to www.bcs-gis.com.