Analyst maps out patterns by studying data using latest technology and techniques
By LAUREN STANFORTH
The Times Union
SCHENECTADY, N.Y. — Nathan Meehan displayed a map on his computer screen that showed the boundaries of the city of Schenectady and various dots with times next to them.
The dots were locations of BB-gun shootings reported on Nov. 5. The pattern of the dots indicated to Meehan where the shooters likely started, and that a police security camera at a Stewart’s Shop along the route might have picked up the car.
Meehan, a Scotia native, is not a police officer. But his work, now becoming common at police departments of all sizes, is just as valuable. He’s the Schenectady Police Department’s crime analyst, a job created as part-time work in 2004 but that about a year ago became a full-time position.
The doctoral candidate in criminal justice started out with the routine task of plotting monthly burglaries on maps and trying to find similarities between them. Now, he has a University at Albany student doing that work, and he’s moved on to analyzing crimes in Schenectady that appear to be linked, such as store robberies or car break-ins.
Meehan’s job is not to tackle the highest-profile cases, such as homicides. But his work is just as important - catching the criminals who affect many more lives on a daily basis.
Crime analysts have been used by police for more than 40 years. But the arrival of advanced computers and software in the 1990s gave the industry a boost.
Schenectady was able to hire an analyst for $55,000 thanks to state grants for Operation IMPACT, a program that encourages data-driven policing in the state’s worst crime areas. Albany’s police force reorganized last year to also use the grants for such analysts.
To make crime analysis possible, Schenectady’s incident reports are entered into a spreadsheet system. Meehan then cleans up the wording to make it uniform for searching so he can search various topics in the report.
For example, Meehan found commonalities in a series of home burglaries last year by matching how the burglars pried open a rear door to get in. A description of a car in those neighborhoods led to the eventual arrest of three suspects. Meehan also discusses such details with state parole and probation workers to see if they have clients with similar tendencies and nearby addresses.
“It’s not guesswork any longer,” said former Schenectady Police Chief Michael Geraci, who recently left the department to take a position with the federal government. Geraci said previously, most case information was gleaned from officers’ memories of past incidents - not the most reliable source of data.
When Meehan entered college, he thought he wanted to be an attorney or an FBI agent, but he eventually decided neither were his calling. He says he has enjoyed this work since he started, but he’s intent on becoming a professor and teaching criminal justice.
“I promised myself that I’d have my Ph.D. by the time I was 30,” the 29-year-old said.
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