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CRUSH Software Helps Memphis Cops Predict Crime

by Caleb Johnson on July 26, 2010 at 05:06 PM

Real Time Crime Center
Facing rising crime rates, the Memphis Police Department turned to a predictive crime analytics program developed by IBM back in 2006, thus making the threat of 'Minority Report' one step closer to reality. According to GovTech, the CRUSH (Criminal Reduction Utilizing Statistical History) software, which puts crime data on a digital map of the city, has helped the MPD reduce crime by 31-percent in the past four years.

Police officers know the precise time and place crime is most likely to occur. "We could see the base, the time of day, day of the week and the types of crimes, and we were able to deploy resources at the exact time the crimes were occurring," John F. Williams, a crime analysis unit manager, told GovTech. "It blew our minds how accurate things were." Before using this software, it took a lot of manpower to create complex spreadsheets to analyze crime patterns. Now, the MPD can base its strategy on the instant analysis of data from the previous 24 hours, 48 hours and 28 days. In January 2010, it led to more than 50 drug arrests and a 36.8-percent reduction in crime in one neighborhood alone. Besides being the music capital of the South, Memphis might be leading the way in refining crime technology, too (and delicious ribs, of course). [From: GovTech and IBM, The Guardian, via: PSFK]

Tags: crime, criminal, criminology, crush, data, ibm, memphis, police, Predictions, software, top

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