HOUSTON — In a press conference yesterday, the City of Houston Police Department announced the launch of its new high-tech Crime Center and Law Enforcement Application to help predict crime activities and provide key information to officers responding to calls. Information Builders, the independent leader in production business intelligence (BI) systems, provided the technology behind its new Law Enforcement Application.
The Crime Center’s team uses WebFOCUS, Information Builders BI solution, along with integration technology from iWay Software as well as a dynamic geographic information system mapping tool from ESRI to enable predictive analysis of crime activity in the city. The crime analysts drill down through the city’s crime data to identify trends which allow the department to reassign officers to hotspot areas to reduce future crime activity. The data analyzed is anywhere from 30 seconds to six hours old.
The BI technology also allows the analysts to provide responding officers with important details such as the history of criminal activity at a particular address and surrounding areas and background information on the residents of the addresses to which they are called. The system also directs officers to people at the scene with first-hand knowledge about alleged crimes.
“Thanks to business intelligence technology from Information Builders, our officers now have much more knowledge about a particular crime or incident than they ever had before,” said Houston police chief Harold Hurtt. “It is our hope that this technology will lead to quicker arrests and speed the time and improve the efficacy of criminal investigations.”
Despite its deep roots in enterprise applications, Information Builders BI technology has also become a well-regarded informational resource in the public center, particularly as a crime fighting tool. The City of Richmond Police Department in Virginia is using a similar BI solution. And many state agencies like Oklahoma, Louisiana, California, and Mississippi use BI to track and prevent fraud.
“With each successful deployment of WebFOCUS by a government agency, we are seeing that BI technology is not something that is relegated to the corporate domain anymore,” said Gerald Cohen, CEO of Information Builders. “Houston’s deployment of crime fighting technology continues the trend of the public sector realizing real benefits with business intelligence.”
About the City of Houston Police Department
The mission of the Houston Police Department is to enhance the quality of life in the City of Houston by working cooperatively with the public and within the framework of the U.S. Constitution to enforce the laws, preserve the peace, reduce fear and provide for a safe environment. Established in 1841, the department currently has 4,880 sworn in officers patrolling 13 districts. The Crime Center will analyze and disseminate real-time crime information that will enhance field personnel’s ability to solve violent crime. For more information: http://www.houstontx.gov/police/.
About Information Builders
Information Builders award-winning combination of business intelligence and enterprise integration software has been providing innovative solutions to more than 12,000 customers for the past 30 years. WebFOCUS is the world’s most widely utilized business intelligence platform. It provides the security, scalability, and flexibility needed at every level of global extended enterprises. Its simplicity helps create executive, analytical, and operational applications that reach dozens to millions of users. Information Builders iWay Software suite provides state-of-the-art, multi-purpose, pre-built integration components that address all SOA, application, data, and information management requirements. Its integration adapters have been adopted by the leading software platform providers. Together, these products give Information Builders customers the ability to live up to the company motto: “Your Business. No Barriers.”