It may sound like something out of science fiction, but the Richmond Police Department is about to step up their efforts to use computers to predict when and where crimes are likely to occur.
The industry term is predictive analytics, and the RPD has been using it since 2006 to target patrols where analysis of data anticipates a high potential for a crime to occur. Since then the city has experienced a 30 percent reduction in crimes.
So far RPD has used the software to guide patrols based on incidents that occurred during the previous shift, as well as compare historical data to current incidents, and use computer generated maps to display incidents.
According to a recent article in Government Technology magazine, the RPD will soon use the software to generate reports that will predict criminal activity in four hour blocks during seven and 30 day periods.
