GEOSPATIAL APPLICATIONS HOLD GREAT UTILITY for PUBLIC SAFETY PLANNING and RESPONSE in WASHINGTON, D.C., Spring Is a Small Miracle

» PROTECTING PORTS » SUPER BOWL SECURITY » GEOINT SYMPOSIUM RECAP

2014 ISSUE 2

THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE UNITED STATES GEOSPATIAL INTELLIGENCE FOUNDATION SAFE+ FOUND GEOSPATIAL APPLICATIONS HOLD GREAT UTILITY FOR PUBLIC SAFETY PLANNING AND RESPONSE IN WASHINGTON, D.C., spring is a small miracle. After months of slate- colored skies, frostbitten fngertips, and slushy streets, the nation’s capital breathes an exuberant sigh of relief as its denizens exchange parkas for parasols and snow boots for sandals. Cherry blossoms paint the National Mall a bubblegum shade of pink, snow banks give way to sunbeams, and for a moment all seems right with the world. At last, summer is on its way. For District residents, it’s a blessing. For District police, however, it’s a curse, according to Robert Horne, the District of Columbia’s program manager for geospatial intelligence. “Crime seems to spike in D.C. during the summer,” he said. “Nobody wants to go outside when it’s cold and windy, but when it’s warm outside, people go out and commit crimes.” SAFE+FOUND GEOSPATIAL APPLICATIONS DO MORE THAN VISUALIZE DATA. IN THE HANDS OF FIRST RESPONDERS, THEY SAVE LIVES. FOUND +BY MATT ALDERTON

USGIF.ORG kk TRAJECTORY | 15 Indeed, numerous studies have shown that when temperatures rise so does the crime rate. There are many reasons why, ranging from social—people congregate more in the summer—to physiological: Heat causes increased heart rate, blood pressure, and testosterone, all of which can make people more aggressive in stressful situations. Regardless of the cause, however, the effect is often violence, which is why the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department has organized a Summer Crime Prevention Initiative every year since 2007. Spanning May through August, the annual program mandates increased law enforcement in neighbor- hoods with the largest concentration of “Whether you’re talking about fre Crime was especially rampant robberies, carjackings, homicides, and safety, crime, or quality of life in your in the subway, which fell under the shootings. community, public safety agencies are purview of New York City Transit Police To make summer streets safer for using GIS to get a better handle on it,” Lt. Jack Maple. Rather than focusing citizens, police leverage not only violent- said retired chief of police Lew Nelson, on response to subway crimes, Maple crime detectives, who make more arrests, director of Global Law Enforcement strove to stop them before they occurred. but also analysts such as Horne, who Solutions and Industry Solutions depart- To do so, he famously used 55 feet of uses the District’s geographic informa- ment manager for Esri. wall space to map every train and train tion system to extract location-based station in New York City. In crayon, he insights about crime and criminals. CHARTS OF THE FUTURE marked every violent crime, robbery, “The police department uses GIS to Geospatial technology and law enforce- and grand larceny that took place in the determine what areas, based on histori- ment are perfectly matched, according city. Eventually, he made more maps cal crime as well as current activities, to David Roberts, senior program man- charting more crimes, utilizing a system it should focus its efforts in,” Horne ager in charge of the IACP Technology of colored pins to help Transit Police vi- explained. “We certainly aren’t the de- Center, through which the Interna- sualize patterns and strategically deploy tional Association of Chiefs patrols to high-risk areas. Maple called of Police (IACP) provides the maps his “Charts of the Future,” and technology research and between 1990 and 1992, they helped “ Everything in policing is location- support to state and local law reduce felony crime in the subway by 27 enforcement agencies. percent and robberies by a third. based. It stems back to the “Everything in policing is In 1994, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani location-based,” Roberts said. named Maple’s boss, William Bratton, earliest days of policing, when “It stems back to the earliest NYPD commissioner. Immediately, days of policing, when police Bratton deployed an electronic version police had pin maps.” had pin maps. Using pins of Maple’s charts of the future, called on a map, agencies were CompStat, which has been credited —David Roberts, senior program manager, International Association of Chiefs of constantly trying to interpret with reducing homicide, robbery, bur- Police Technology Center the contours of crime and glary, and car theft by 80 percent, 83 criminality in their jurisdic- percent, 86 percent, and 94 percent, tion so they could determine respectively, between 1990 and 2011. ciding factor in reducing crime—good how to best deploy resources.” “CompStat reporting is becoming police work is the deciding factor—but The New York City Police Depart- very popular in law enforcement,” said we help point good police work in the ment (NYPD) is widely credited as the Cameron Smith, acting vice president right direction.” frst law enforcement agency to recog- for security solutions at Intergraph Gov- In fact, GIS and GEOINT are com- nize the power of geospatial information. ernment Solutions. “Essentially, it gives passes that point all manner of public It was 1990 and Manhattan was a scary, police departments the ability to data safety personnel in the right direction, lawless place, more gritty than glamor- mine information by location … so they including police, fre, and emergency ous. Crack pipes littered the ground like can not only pinpoint the locations of medical services (EMS), helping frst cigarette butts, walls wore graffti-like tat- crimes, but also draw conclusions from responders plan and execute missions too sleeves, and Times Square was better those pinpoints to help them address more effectively, effciently, and safely. suited to criminals than tourists. problems.”

16 | TRAJECTORYMAGAZINE.COM ll 2014 ISSUE 2 SERVE, PROTECT, LOCATE of a day, a week, or a month,” said Capt. As more police departments implement Chris Hsiung, who leads MVPD’s feld CompStat tools and methodologies, law operations division. “By overlaying enforcement as a discipline is evolving, that with traffc accident data, we can according to Roberts, who notes a shift determine if we’re writing tickets in the toward “place-based policing”— focused appropriate places, and whether our on crime “hot spots”—and “predictive patrol patterns match up with where our policing,” which focuses as much on pre- traffc problems are.” empting crime as it does on punishing it. Agencies can use the same Blue Force Geospatial technology, including Tracking devices to enhance offcer GIS and GEOINT, is facilitating this safety. “When I was in law enforcement, shift in many ways. One is by helping I worked in situations where offcers were agencies manage limited resources for involved in foot pursuits and ended up maximum effect. “Most police agencies dying in an alley with nobody knowing don’t have suffcient manpower,” Nelson where they were,” Nelson said. “There said. “GIS acts as a force extender by is no need for that now because you can helping them put the right people in the know where people are at any given time. right place at the right time.” When you hear a gunshot you can locate The Ogden Police Department your offcers to make sure they’re not (OPD) in Ogden, Utah, uses this victims and send help if they are.” method, in a slightly different way. Ear- lier this year, it launched Cyberwatch, a PREDICTIVE POLICING GIS application that utilizes citizens to Resource management is one use case extend and optimize OPD’s police force. for geospatial tools in law enforcement. The system sends location-based alerts Crime fghting—predicting, preventing, to registered users on a daily basis notify- and solving crimes—is another.

ing them of new crimes and suspected As IACP’s Roberts indicated, law en- PHOTO COURTESY OF OGDEN POLICE DEPT. criminals within a given radius of their forcement can implement place-based OPD’S ARCHANGEL, a high-visibility remote video home. It also allows them to submit geo- policing, basing patrols on geospatially surveillance trailer, is deployed to various locations determined tagged anonymous tips to OPD’s Real relevant incidents and risk factors. by analysis of crime data trends. Time Crime Center. “[Former Police Chief] Tom Casady … “It’s basically a neighborhood watch,” pioneered this in Lincoln, Neb.,” Roberts said OPD Deputy Director of Support said. “He built a location-based polic- By plotting everything from street- Services John Harvey. “If you think ing application … that’s linked to the lights to bars on maps alongside the about how cops solve crimes, it’s usually Lincoln Police Department’s information points where crimes have occurred, law because someone calls in with a tip. So, management system. Instead of seeing enforcement can take a more holistic it makes sense to put this information the local Starbucks or Pizza Hut on a approach to crime fghting. Predictive out there.” map, offcers see there’s a registered sex policing evolves this concept further Once the data reveals a developing offender at this address, or there was a by using location-based analysis of past crime trend in a particular area, OPD burglary at that address. They see this on crimes to prevent future ones. rolls out another force extender—a their mobile device, which provides situ- “Wayne Gretzky said the difference high-visibility remote video surveillance ational awareness to offcers in the feld.” between a good hockey player and a trailer dubbed Archangel. An effective Geospatial intelligence can further great one is that a good one skates to deterrent, Archangel’s deployment enhance place-based policing by overlay- where the puck is and a great one to reduces crime rates between 24 and 38 ing on crime maps information related where it’s going to be,” Nelson said. percent for areas under its watch. to environment and demographics. “GIS allows us to skate to where the puck Law enforcement agencies can also op- “Many times you can remove today’s is going to be.” timize resources by tracking their offcers. criminals and crime continues going Burglaries are a good example. The Mountain View Police Department on because there are other factors in “Imagine in front of you a salt- (MVPD) in Mountain View, Calif., for that community that facilitate crime, shaker,” said Robert Austin, manager of example, recently explored “Blue Force like a high number of liquor stores, or enterprise applications integration for Tracking” by piloting Altus, an offcer socioeconomic factors such as high un- the city of Tampa, Fla. “About 3 inches tracking application created by location employment,” Nelson said. “We used to to the right is another saltshaker, and solutions company Polaris Wireless. work on sending criminals to jail—and 3 inches to the right of that another “We’re talking about putting mobile we still work on that—but now we also saltshaker. What police have found is tracking devices on our motorcycles can see if there is some type of modality that if a criminal goes to the location of [used for traffc enforcement] and bread- we can use to change the behavior in a the frst saltshaker and steals salt from crumbing where they go in the course particular area or community.” that on Monday, when he goes back on

USGIF.ORG kk TRAJECTORY | 17 Tuesday he’ll go to the saltshaker next to case is crime investigation. If a child in 2013 to locate the Boston Marathon it, and on Wednesday to the saltshaker is abducted, law enforcement can use bombing suspects. In Washington, D.C., next to that … odds are the criminal will geospatial modeling to determine where police can readily tap into closed-circuit be back Thursday to steal from the next the abductor’s car could be based on television (CCTV) maintained by other saltshaker.” factors such as maximum vehicle speed, local agencies. According to Austin, Tampa police time of day, road conditions, and traffc. “The Housing Authority, for example, solve 80 percent of all crimes by wait- With a warrant, law enforcement can has CCTV in all of its housing units,” ing at that fourth location. “Criminals access cellphone GPS records to locate Horne said. “The Department of are not typically the most brilliant people who were in the vicinity when a Transportation likewise has cameras that of citizens, so they develop patterns,” shooting occurred. And with geo-tagged monitor intersections for signal timing he continued. “Our chief of police criminal histories, offcers can narrow and whatnot. We can pull video from all estimates that we’ve achieved 64 percent down a list of burglary suspects. of those cameras and display them on crime reduction in the last eight years, “If we have a burglary pattern in maps … to see any intersection in D.C. and she has attributed a large portion of part of the city, we can map out the that has a camera pointed on it.” that to the use of GIS.” burglaries and look at offenders in the In Ogden, OPD has cameras locked Law enforcement can similarly use area who are on probation or parole for on hiking areas, its downtown entertain- GEOINT and GIS to predict—and burglary,” said Darin Lee, a GIS analyst ment district, and public schools. “Right therefore pre-empt—carjackings, traf- with the Kansas City Police Department now we have about 230 cameras that the fc fatalities, drug crimes, and gang in Kansas City, Mo. “Sometimes, they’re city owns that we can monitor,” Harvey violence. The Los Angeles Police right on top of each other.” said. “We also have access to 1,000 Department (LAPD) combines predic- cameras that the Weber County School tive policing with crowdsourcing by DOD MEETS PD District has put in schools.” Of course, GIS isn’t the only geospa- But it doesn’t stop at video. Federal tial tool in law enforcement’s toolbox. authorities have also used helicopters Police departments increasingly use a equipped with infrared imaging to “ Our chief of police estimates wide swath of geospatial intelligence to identify where marijuana is being grown. execute missions. And in Montana, law enforcement agen- that we’ve achieved 64 In Compton, Calif., the Los Angeles cies were part of a recent Montana State County Sheriff’s Department recently University project that tested the use of percent crime reduction in tested an unmanned aerial vehicle LiDAR to locate meth labs. (UAV) that collects high-resolution “More and more, you’re starting to the last eight years, and full-motion video (FMV). During the see the public safety realm [adopt] some yearlong test, the UAV—which has a of the [GEOINT] tools from the mili- she has attributed a large maximum fight time of six hours—al- tary and intelligence world,” Smith said. lowed police to zoom in on virtually any area within the city for surveillance pur- RAPID RESPONSE portion of that to the use poses, enabling them to track individuals As powerful as it is for policing, geo- and vehicles. When a crime occurred, spatial technology has public safety of GIS.” offcers and analysts could direct the applications far beyond enforcing laws. —Robert Austin, manager of enterprise applications integration for UAV to the scene of the crime to gather In the hands of 911 dispatchers—who the city of Tampa, Fla. geospatially relevant information in real locate the response teams nearest an time. They could later rewind the video incident, then optimize a route based to perform additional analysis. on traffc, weather, street closures, and publicizing its predictive policing targets, “What we essentially do is a live other factors—these tools can save lives. called “box areas.” version of Google Earth, only with a full “The value of having a map as part of “We are deploying as many resources TiVo capability,” Ross McNutt, president the dispatching process is self-evident as possible to the box areas,” LAPD’s of Persistent Surveillance Systems—the because a major focus of public safety Pacifc Division said in a March alert company that provided the technol- is response time,” Smith said. “The that was distributed to citizens. “To ogy—told the Center for Investigative quicker you can get to the scene, the further increase the effectiveness of Reporting in a video interview. “It allows better the outcome is.” predictive policing we are asking the us to rewind time and go back and see In Charlotte, N.C., the city uses public to spend any free time you may events that we didn’t know occurred at GIS to manage ambulance response. have in these areas, too. Your presence the time they occurred.” “There are times of day, days of the alone can assist in deterring would-be Although UAVs are still experi- month, or months of the year that, for criminals from committing crime in mental, many police departments whatever reason, you have more medical your neighborhood.” already use video surveillance on the emergencies, so you risk running out Because not all crimes can be ground. The Boston Police Depart- of ambulances,” Nelson said. “Let’s say prevented, another compelling use ment famously used surveillance video you have 12 ambulances and 10 are

18 | TRAJECTORYMAGAZINE.COM ll 2014 ISSUE 2 busy; in Charlotte they use an application to determine where they should place their last one or two ambulances so they have the best chance of getting to the next emergency, based on a his- torical analysis of emergencies at the same time of day, the same day of the week, at the same time of year. They’ve found that this is very effective at saving PHOTO COURTESY OF DELEWARE OHIO COUNTY, lives without the need for more ambulances.” Response time is so im- portant in Delaware County, Ohio, that the Delaware County Emergency Manage- ment Agency (EMA) recently completed a two-year project to map and photograph the county’s six public high schools in advance of a potential school shooting. The county’s GIS Group. When a wildfre starts, he said, Municipal fre departments are DELAWARE COUNTY’S department took 360-degree photos the U.S. Forest Service uses GIS to similarly deploying GIS. Instead of public safety application is of school interiors; highlighted areas analyze a multitude of geo-tagged data, vegetation and watersheds, however, extremely helpful as a planning and of interest and risk, such as potential including: their maps include information about response tool, displaying critical infrastructure and performing hiding places or science labs containing The locations of the fre, populations, fre hydrants, structures, and building analyses of hazard zones. volatile materials; and uploaded them to burned areas, watersheds, structures, occupants. Philadelphia frefghters use a a secure geospatial application for access wildlife, and safety hazards such as mobile GIS terminal to locate the nearest by frst responders. power lines in the fight path of water hydrant, view gas lines and water mains, “Now, if there’s an incident at one bombers, which help determine and access vital building information, in- of the schools—a protracted standoff threats; cluding size, building material, whether scenario, for example, or a building Weather, wind, and terrain, which it’s vacant or occupied, and whether it collapse—frst responders can get a very help predict the fre’s spread; houses any hazardous materials. good layout of the school before they The positions of frefghters, fre lines, Philadelphia Fire Department IT enter the premises,” said EMA Director dozer lines, and water sources, which Director Peter Della Porta said frefght- Sean Miller. help manage resources. ers also have access to aerial and oblique Other cities and counties are execut- “We also use GIS in prevention,” imagery. ing similar projects with malls and other explained Triplett, who said the Forest “Last year, a frefghter died because public areas. “If you have a huge mall, Service continually maps the presence he was fghting a fre on a row house you can have all this information—foor of volatile vegetation in forests so it can that had three different levels of roof. plans, pictures, exits—to assist frst mitigate potential blazes. “Based on our He was walking backwards through the responders,” Smith said. analyses, communities and recreation smoke and fell. If he had intelligence areas can develop action plans to reduce about what the structure looked like, WHERE THERE’S SMOKE … fuels in their area so that when we do have that might have been avoided.” Fire departments also use GIS to improve a wildfre, its severity and impact will be response times. In addition to responding signifcantly altered and decreased.” BIG BROTHER AND BIG DATA faster, however, they can leverage geospa- A 2013 wildfre in southwestern Despite its myriad public safety applica- tial intelligence to respond better. Colorado shows geospatial intelligence tions, frst responders face a slurry of “[GIS] allows us to do work before in action. “It was a very hot, fast-moving fnancial, cultural, and legal obstacles in an incident occurs to be more effec- fre in a large continuous stand of dead their quest to utilize geospatial technol- tive when it does,” says Dustin Morrow, spruce trees that were victims of beetle ogy to its full potential. deputy chief of the Tualatin Valley Fire kill,” Triplett said. “What we noticed using Across the public safety sector, Department in Tigard, Ore. remote sensing and satellite imagery was budget is a principal concern. The wildfre community has used that when the fre ran into areas of mixed “We drop $500,000 on an engine GIS for decades, according to Sean aspen and deciduous trees—fuels that without any problem, but as soon as Triplett, group leader within the U.S. weren’t impacted by bug kill—it would lay somebody says, ‘I need $12,000 for an Forest Service’s Fire and Aviation IT over so we could suppress it.” Esri data set,’ everybody freaks out,”

USGIF.ORG kk TRAJECTORY | 19 THE NEXT GENERATION OF POLICING “But it’s going to take time, energy, effort, In his 1956 short story “Minority Report,” + Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs): and resources to demonstrate the value adapted for film by Steven Spielberg in “It’s really hard not to [acknowledge] of GIS and secure the political will and 2002, science fiction author Philip K. the value of [UAVs],” said Mike King, executive sponsorship to drive demand for it to the point that it becomes a core Dick describes a dysto- national law enforcement manager at corporate line of business.” pian world in which law Esri. “If we can use technology to … Legal challenges are yet another sig- enforcement is based on improve law enforcement’s ability to nifcant impediment. As agencies adopt the precognition of crime really be where the problems are, why new and emerging technologies such as by three persons known would we not embrace that?” UAVs and augmented reality, citizens, as “precogs.” By punish- + Augmented reality: “Within the legislators, and judges will have to weigh ing citizens before they next five years, I think Google Glass the benefts of geospatial tools against commit crimes, not after, will be standard issue,” said John perceived risks to privacy and civil authorities reduce felo- Harvey, deputy director of support liberties, according to Kevin Pomfret, ex- nies by 99.8 percent and services at the Ogden Police Depart- ecutive director of the Centre for Spatial homicides by 100 percent. ment in Ogden, Utah, who envisions Law and Policy. “What generally would have been Despite the rise of “predictive polic- augmented reality applications that considered sophisticated geospatial ing,” modern-day geospatial tools are far officers can use to read license plates, analytical tools and technology even from clairvoyant, but they facilitate police search active warrants, and establish four or fve years ago is being pushed work that’s intelligent—not omniscient. or verify identities. down into law enforcement at the state And yet, in a world of location- + Indoor GPS: “I see GIS moving inside and big-city level, and to increasingly enabled law enforcement, science fiction buildings so we can track, for exam- smaller law enforcement agencies,” he is increasingly more science than fiction, ple, firefighters and first responders observed. “That’s a good thing because according to retired Chief of Police Lew inside a burning building,” said of the power of the tools involved, but Nelson, director of Global Law Enforce- Robert Austin, manager of Enterprise it also raises some challenges, as those ment Solutions and Industry Solutions Applications Integration for the city people don’t necessarily have geospa- Department manager at Esri. of Tampa, Fla., who also predicts an tial training or understanding, which increases the risk that they’ll use the “The future has started to arrive,” he increase in 3D mapping that incorpo- technology in ways that violate civil said. “The Dick Tracy tools I read about rates building heights and subsurface liberties or even break certain laws. when I was a kid? Those exist now.” materials. When you add on top of that the lack The following geospatial technologies + ISR sensors: “They’re already using of a consistent and transparent legal are coming soon to a police department sensor devices in the forensics world,” and policy framework with regard to near you: said Cameron Smith, acting vice location information and geospatial + Mobile GIS: “Where technology is president for security solutions at technology, you increase that risk at the going is more and more mobile,” Intergraph Government Solutions. “In local level all the way up.” said policing technology expert David fact, one of [our sister] companies, Potential solutions exist—requiring Roberts, senior program manager at Leica Geosystems, has the ability to warrants to obtain personal data, restrict- the International Association of Chiefs take a laser scanner and create a ing access to it, and establishing limits on retention of it—but whether citizens of Police. “We’re going to see consid- point cloud of a crime scene; you can and regulators can agree remains to erable development in equipping and actually plot the locations of every- be seen. empowering officers [with geospatial thing at the crime scene … to help you “Given the nature and power of tools] in the field.” determine what happened there.” geospatial technology, it can be used for

PHOTO COURTESY OF COPTRAX good or it can be used in ways that suppress civil liberties,” Pomfret continued. Morrow said. “Spending that $500,000 feld offce. Although the potential “Where that line is drawn for any particu- on another analyst, more data sets, and for GEOINT and GIS in federal law lar use is going to be a real challenge.” GIS training for our staff would prob- enforcement is enormous, he said, it But also a real opportunity. ably do more to mitigate incidents in isn’t routine at the FBI and doesn’t yet “There’s a lot of policy that needs the community than buying another exist at the enterprise level. Instead, pas- to be put in place to govern how we’re truck, but it’s a big challenge to shift sionate individuals engaged in boutique going to use all this data,” Roberts that mindset.” production within local feld offces said. “But I believe if we enforce those It’s a challenge that holds not only typically utilize it. policies effectively, we can achieve a small agencies back but also the big- “There are amazing and innovative substantial amount of business value gest, according to Daniel O’Donnell, a things being done in a variety of pockets and have a huge positive impact on former GIS analyst in the FBI’s Atlanta throughout the [FBI],” O’Donnell said. communities.”

20 | TRAJECTORYMAGAZINE.COM ll 2014 ISSUE 2