Integrating crime analysis and intelligence analysis in law enforcement

Crime Analysis and Intelligence Analysis in the Future of Policing and Homeland Security

The objective of this work is to write a position paper on the roles of crime analysis and intelligence analysis in the future of policing and homeland security while citing at least 10 sources and ultimately conducting a synthesis of the various concepts, tools, issues and perspectives in what will be a critical analysis.

Inspector Gadget was a cartoon character that was very popular in the 1990s and was a character that had a great many very cool gadgets just as did James Bond in the movies. Yesterday's dream gadgets are the today's police and homeland security officer's tools of trade. However, if this information and technology is not properly shared in among intelligence and crime analysts within the agency there is a great omission within the department.

INTEGRATION of INTELLIGENCE and CRIME ANALYSIS

The work of Ratcliffe (2007) entitled: "Integrated Intelligence and Crime Analysis: Enhanced Information Management for Law Enforcement Leaders" states: "Intelligence-led policing is a business model and managerial philosophy where data analysis and crime intelligence are pivotal to an objective, decision-making framework that facilitates crime and problem reduction, disruption and prevention through both strategic management and effective enforcement strategies that target prolific and serious offenders." (Forthcoming 2008: Intelligence-Led Policing. Cullompton, Devon, UK: Willan Publishing; as cited in Ratcliffe, 2007) Ratcliffe notes the statement of Debra Piel, Intelligence Analyst, Massachusetts State Police Fusion Center: "I don't know what you can do with intelligence without crime data or what you can do with crime data without turning it into actionable intelligence." (2007) as well noted by Ratcliffe is the statement of Marilyn Peterson, Intelligence Management Specialist, New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice, Department of Law and Public Safety": "The vast majority of police agencies in the U.S. do not have the luxury of having both crime analysts and intelligence analysts. Having analysts trained and able to generate all-source and all-methods analysis is the most effective way for them to support the agencies' missions." (2007) One problem is the fact that intelligence is often retained "within their teams or squads, under the often mistaken belief that this is necessary for operational security and because of government rules." (Ratcliffe, 2007) This tendency exists in both small and large agencies in which information is not distributed to others "whose perspectives can assist in developing appropriate solutions." (Ratcliffe, 2007) Barriers to this integration are stated to include those that are "technical, organizational, and cultural...." In nature and as well Ratcliffe relates strategies for integration of these two "essential streams of knowledge so that decision makers have access to the best information and most comprehensive analysis possible in order to generate the best responses." (Ratcliffe, 2007) Criminal intelligence is defined in this work as "...the creation of an intelligence knowledge product that supports decision making in the areas of law enforcement, crime reduction and crime prevention." (Ratcliffe, 2007) Furthermore criminal intelligence is that which results from having conducted a criminal intelligence analysis whether it be in the form of a "...written bulletin, a presentation, a verbal report, or some combination of these in a briefing. An intelligence knowledge product could even be a brief telephone conversation if the intelligence is timely and has an effect on the decision making of the recipient of the intelligence." (Ratcliffe, 2007) the statement of Christopher Bruce, Crime Analyst Danvers, MA Police Department is noted: "I'm not sure that most U.S. criminal intelligence analysts are trained to do much more than case support. Moreover, I'm not sure they see their own jobs as being more than case support. The problem lies largely with the way the profession has been sold to intelligence analysts in the United States, with its focus on criminal organizations, homeland security, and high-profile arrests and prosecutions. I think that many, if not most, criminal intelligence analysts in the U.S. prefer to think of their duties as providing analytical support to such endeavors. If criminal intelligence analysts thought of themselves more in a crime prevention role, or even a pattern analysis role, then certainly the intelligence analysis and crime analysis professions would have merged in the U.S. some time ago." (Ratcliffe, 2007)

Tactical Intelligence

Ratcliffe relates that the "most common level of criminal intelligence in operation around the world is tactical intelligence. This level of analysis supports front-line enforcement officers and investigators in taking case-specific action in order to achieve enforcement objectives such as tactical plans. In this case the criminal environment that is under examination is a micro-level one, where the decision makers and individual investigators are small teams targeting local criminals. This is the most dominant form of intelligence analysis across the world and it is understandable why this is so." (2007) This level of intelligence targets only local obvious problems because they do not have access to the "broader and more holistic levels of intelligence that can provide a greater understanding of long-term problems, problems that exist at scales greater than that of the behavior of individual offenders." (2007) There is an inherent problem with this type of intelligence in that it drives the "more short-term, arrest-focused activity, which in turn increases the demand for more tactical intelligence." (Ratcliffe, 2007)

Operational Intelligence

Operational intelligence is the type of criminal intelligence that "exists at a broader, organizational level. Operational intelligence is the creation of an intelligence product that supports area commanders and regional operational managers in planning crime reduction activity and deploying resources to achieve operational objectives (Ratcliffe 2004). That some professional organizations do not consider this to be a distinct level of intelligence work is a mistake; if anything, this is the fastest growing area of criminal intelligence. This meso-level of operation supports decision makers who are responsible for geographic areas or who command enforcement teams. Operational intelligence helps decision makers decide which organized crime groups are most vulnerable to enforcement or which areas of a city require the most resources. " (Ratcliffe,

Strategic Intelligence

Strategic intelligence "aims to provide insight and understanding into patterns of criminal behavior and the functioning of the criminal environment, and aims to be future-oriented and proactive. The strategic intelligence products seeks to influence long-term organizational objective and to contribute to discussions of policy, resource allocation and strategy. Good strategic products will influence not just police behavior but also that of other, non-law enforcement organizations that are able to have an impact on crime, such as health services, city planners, and other criminal justice agencies. Strategic intelligence is an often-misunderstood aspect of criminal intelligence and, yet, if real crime reduction is to be achieved, it has the potential to be of the greatest value to police leaders and executives responsible for crime prevention." (Ratcliffe, 2007) the following figure illustrates the simple scope of intelligence activities for different types of agencies.

Simplified Scope of Intelligence Activities for Different Types of Agencies

Source: Ratcliffe (2007)

The statement of Deborah Osborne, Crime Analyst, Buffalo, New York, Police Department is noted: "Analysts may employ nonlinear approaches to analysis by synthesizing information obtained in a number of methods to see a more complete 'whole' of a crime problem. These methods may include:

crime-mapping;

statistical-analysis field observations of high-crime and low-crime areas; reading crime and intelligence reports; talking to officers, suspects, victims; looking for evidence links; and gathering information on known offenders residing in or near the jurisdiction. (as cited in Ratcliffe, 2007)

The result will be a "more accurate 'whole picture' and improve the meaningfulness and utility of information generated by law enforcement and analysts." (Osborne as cited in Ratcliffe, 2007) Ratcliffe relate the need for an integrated analysis model. It is related by Christopher Bruce in this work that the crime analysts "Have their fingers on the pulse of the crime and safety dynamic in the jurisdictions - what's up, what's down, where the hot spots are, what type of property is being stolen, and so on. In other words, they know about the patterns trends and problems. The intelligence analysts, on the other hand are likely to be more aware of the specific people responsible for the crime in the jurisdiction - who they are, where they live, what they do, who they associate with, who gives their orders, and what they're planning." (as cited in Ratcliffe, 2007)

The following figure illustrates an Isolated Crime and Intelligence Analysis Model.

Isolated Crime and Intelligence Analysis Model

Source: Ratcliffe (2007)

The following figure illustrates the Integrated Crime and Intelligence Analysis Model

Integrated Crime and Intelligence Analysis Model

Source: Ratcliffe (2007)

Benefits of the Integrated Analysis Model include those as follows:

The big picture;

Increased enforcement options

Cheaper in the Long Run; fluid response to crime realistic analysis model; single point of contact for interagency communication.

Potential barriers include:

Civilians within the law enforcement environment;

Different missions

Terminology;

Invulnerability

Case-by-case thinking;

Isolated thinking;

Perceived legal constraints;

Compartmentalization;

Lack of leadership;

Lack of training;

Technology constraints;

GIS for Law Enforcement

GIS software makes use of geographical and computer-generated maps that interface for integration of and accessing "massive amounts of location-based information." (ESRI, 2007) the software enables law enforcement and criminal justice personnel to "effectively plan for emergency response, determine mitigation priorities, analyze historical events, and predict dire future events. GIS can also be used to get critical information to emergency responders upon dispatch or while en route to an incident to assist in tactical planning and response." (ESRI, 2007)

Homeland Security states as its' three primary objectives being to:

prevent future terrorist attacks;

reduce the nation's vulnerability; and minimize the damage and recovery from attacks that occur. (Chen and Wang, 2005)

Critical mission areas for Homeland Security have been identified as:

1) intelligence and warning;

2) border and transportation security;

3) Domestic Counterterrorism;

4)Protecting critical infrastructure and key assets;

5) defending against catastrophic terrorism; and 6) emergency-preparedness and responses. (Chen and Wang, 2005)

The Homeland Security Department highlights information sharing as the primary focus for the future.

SUMMARY and CONCLUSION

It is clear that future policing and homeland security initiatives will be greatly reliant upon information sharing in order to gain more effectiveness. The varying aspects of criminal intelligence, tactical intelligence and others are on the path to integration as evidenced by the literature reviewed in this report.