introduction to crime analysis methods of data collection

Unit 3Professor Hilton

Chain of Command Data integrity Correcting problems

A police agency is a paramilitary organization.

It is important to know who reports to whom.

For example, in my organization, the structure is as follows:• Chief• Deputy Chief• Lieutenant• Sergeant• Officer

Civilians fit into the chain-of-command, too, and it will be dependent upon your organization’s structure.• Supervisors• Subordinates to either civilian or sworn

Issues that can (do) occur if you go around the chain-of-command:• Learn of your activities from someone else• Jump to someone else’s supervisor:

The supervisor should know if there are issues with one of his or her employees.

The employee may not respect what it is you are trying to convey.

No record of the conversation between you and someone else’s subordinate will be documented, thus adding to accountability issues down the line.

It is data that contains flaws that make it unreliable or unusable. • Examples include:

Misrepresenting problem addresses Spatial analysis Spatial statistics Missing points Search errors.

These are the most universal problems with data:• Empty fields• Typos• Punctuation• Abbreviations• Omissions• Aliases• Invalid entries

These occur when a database cannot hold all of the data that is being entered into it (record truncations).

Also, when a field is not built large enough to capture all pertinent information (field truncations)

When data is changed from one type to another (field conversion)

Physical data corruption, such as when a hardcopy of a report is lost or destroyed.

My biggest headache in the world.

These occur when query or reporting functions are problematic.

Start with documenting the problems.• You want to be able to show what errors you

are finding.• With those errors, see if you can identify the

source. Is it officer create? Data entry problems? Quality control at a supervisor level?

Develop ideas for solutions.• Problems are more readily addressed if you

have ideas for solutions.• Try to suggest ideas that will have minimal

extra work, if any, on any data collector’s part (officer). (example, criminal damage to property reporting)

• Even if your solution isn’t adopted, it gives those people working on fixing the problems something to work from. (The best way to have one good idea is to have

many ideas)

Present through the chain-of-command what the problem(s) is (are) and what you think will correct the problems. • Start with your chain before you start working

through other chains. You don’t want someone else to tell your boss that

you are on a mission. You want your bosses support or your plan will not have buy-in.

Keep a record of your conversation with your boss.

Request a meeting through your supervisor that will include the primary division that you are having problems with.• Sometimes your supervisor will tell you to

go ahead and work around him or her, and that is fine. Include him or her in all emails and meeting

notifications, anyway, to keep them in the loop.

When you have your meeting – present your information factually and without blame.

Present your proposed solutions, but ask for other ideas, too.

If costs are involved, make sure those costs have been evaluated.

Buy-in needs to be established from the top down.• Every solution for data needs that fails most

likely had little or no support from supervisory or administrative personnel.

• You need to clearly demonstrate why your mission is important and how it will positively impact the agency.

Changes that require all personnel should be presented in some type of formal training session, such as in-service or roll call training.

Seek additional training that will help you work as a database administrator would• SQL training• Crystal Reports

As long as your records management system is in a SQL database (somewhat of an industry standard) whatever information you are inputting, you should be able to retrieve through SQL scripts.

• “SQL Training is a free website designed to help you learn SQL. Having at least basic SQL knowledge is a must for every IT professional, because databases are the backbone of every IT system. SQL Training tutorial will assist you with your SQL preparation, giving clear explanations of SQL concepts, accompanied by plenty of SQL examples.”

www.sqltraining.org

Once you run your SQL query, this is a powerful report building tool that will help you display that data in a meaningful way, and on a repeated basis. • http://www.crystalreports.com/

New World Systems• http://www.newworldsystems.com/

OSSI / Sungard• http://www.sungardps.com/products/

ossipublicsafetysolution.aspx/ Intergraph

• http://www.intergraph.com/publicsafety/recordsmgt.aspx

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REklVxDjRDI Visionair

• http://www.visionair.com/products/recordsmanagementsoftware.aspx

Automating the data process can streamline information flow to and from the public, too:

• Coplogic