NT OF ME J T US U.S. Department of Justice R T A I P C E E D

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O J C S F A Office of Justice Programs V M F O I N A C I J S R E BJ G O OJJ DP O F PR National Institute of Justice JUSTICE National Institute of Justice P r o g r a m F o c u s

The Chicago Police Department’s Information Collection for Automated Mapping (ICAM) Program PROGRAM FOCUS

The Chicago Police Department’s Information Collection for Automated Mapping (ICAM) Program by Thomas F. Rich

o better understand the nature and extent of computerized mapping to be a valu- T able tool that had not yet reached its criminal and social problems in the community and full potential.1 Because mapping soft- improve allocation of resources, a growing number of ware has a unique ability to overlay disparate data sets (e.g., citizen crime control and prevention organizations are turning complaints; police incident data; the to computerized mapping. A recent National Institute locations of specific sites, such as of Justice (NIJ) study reported that officials found abandoned buildings or liquor stores;

Highlights

Computerized mapping is emerging as an User Friendly potentially contributing to significant re- effective tool to help police departments ductions in motor vehicle theft and saving track criminal activity in neighborhoods. ICAM’s unique easy-to-use design can be millions of dollars for the insurance Combined with a technique known as traced to the mandate of the ICAM co- industry. geocoding (which verifies addresses and project coordinator, Deputy Superinten- links other geographic information with dent Charles Ramsey, who said the map- Planned Enhancements ping system should be “so user-friendly, them), computer mapping software can ICAM currently is not fully accessible to combine data sets to provide a multidi- even I can make a map.” The system designers also factored in the needs of the public because no program exists to mensional view of crime and its potential block out confidential information, such contributing factors. officers. A CPD detective and an officer spent several weeks at a precinct station as the names and addresses of victims. A Although many large police departments finding out what officers wanted from the modified version of ICAM is being devel- are using this technology, the Chicago computerized mapping system. oped that will allow the public to generate Police Department (CPD) has put together maps and lists of crimes in their neighbor- one of the most accessible and easy-to-use Using a series of clicks made with a com- hoods without divulging confidential data. programs in the Nation. Since its imple- puter mouse, ICAM can produce a map of reported offenses of a particular type in a ICAM is currently limited in its ability to mentation in May 1995, the Information aid crime analysis. For example, an officer Collection for Automated Mapping specified area, or it can produce a chart of the 10 most frequently reported offenses cannot generate a map of calls for service (ICAM) program has been praised by the or arrests. Major revisions, being made city’s police officials, beat officers, and in an area. A keyboard is not required for the ICAM system. under an initiative known as ICAM 2, will the public. address these and other issues. For ex- Because the mapping program was cre- The computer hardware and software for ample, the enhanced system will be able to ated in conjunction with the Department’s ICAM were developed with a $1 million map reported offenses within specified community policing program, the maps grant from the Illinois Motor Vehicle Theft distances of a location (e.g., within 1,000 have been an effective way to work with Prevention Council. The council under- feet of a school) and track changes in residents on addressing problems in their stood that computer mapping could per- crime over time. In addition, a new citywide neighborhoods. The maps are expected to mit geographic analysis of the relation- 911 emergency network will allow offic- become regular features of neighborhood ship between the locations of a car’s theft ers to access the data bases of districts beat meetings with police officers. and its subsequent recovery—thus, throughout the city.

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and census data), computerized maps be incurred when the data are trans- these files may have missing or un- can provide a multidimensional over- ferred to the mapping system. named streets or incorrect address view of crime and its potential contrib- ranges. uting factors. ■ Procedures are required to ensure that addresses of data to be mapped The Chicago Police Department Computerized mapping is particularly are accurate (e.g., street names are (CPD) has overcome these obstacles useful for police departments with spelled correctly). Ideally, an address and put together a mapping system— computer-aided dispatch and records would be verified whenever it is en- Information Collection for Auto- management systems, which store tered into a computer system. How- mated Mapping (ICAM)—that can and maintain calls for service, as ever, it may be necessary, first, to be used by police officers throughout well as incident, arrest, and other develop an accurate base map; police the agency. While a growing number data that are potentially mappable. departments may want to undertake of law enforcement agencies have These systems typically have a geo- the time-consuming, albeit one-time, highly sophisticated mapping systems coding feature that verifies addresses task of editing computerized street (see “Mapping Systems in Other Po- and associates them with other geo- files of their jurisdictions. The street lice Departments”), it appears that graphic information, including police files can be obtained from the U.S. only CPD has a system that enables reporting areas, beats, and districts. Bureau of the Census or commercial officers with little or no special train- geographic data vendors, but even ing to create and quickly retrieve Before implementing computerized mapping systems, however, police departments are faced with a number of issues: Mapping Systems in Other Police ■ The costs of the necessary hard- Departments ware and software can be substantial. Numerous police departments around the Corporation to develop a custom software ■ Commercially available mapping country use mapping software, in most application that allows users to generate software is more complicated and cases, to support crime analysis activities. maps of reported offenses meeting speci- harder to learn than word processing The Dallas and Los Angeles Police De- fied criteria. The options for querying the partments are among the more active users data base of reported offenses are exten- or spreadsheet software and often of this technology. sive—a user can specify crime types, date requires special multiday training and time ranges, modus operandi, points Dallas. The Dallas Police Department has courses. This limits the accessibility of entry/exit, property descriptions, developed what might be called a “text- of the mapping software and often weapon descriptions, suspect descriptions, only” version of ICAM. Located at each makes police departments dependent vehicle descriptions, victim descriptions, police substation, a “walk-up-and-use” on a small number of specially trained and narrative key phrases. The applica- system produces a list of reported offenses persons. tion is installed at all 18 area stations, that meet specified criteria. Once a list is where it is used by the area crime analyst. generated, the user can export it to a gen- ■ The data to be mapped must be The analyst uses the application to pro- eral purpose mapping software package duce crime alert bulletins, “in-custody” available on an ongoing basis to en- (the Department uses MapInfo) that can be bulletins, and “wanted” bulletins. The ap- sure that maps are timely and up-to- used to map the list of offenses. A “hand- plication is also used to enhance cases, to date. Unless the mapping system can ful” of officers in the Department—and respond to officers’ requests for crime use electronic data that already exist at least one civilian at each substation— maps, and to generate crime maps for area in the department’s computer-aided know how to use MapInfo.2 biweekly tactical planning meetings.3 dispatch or records management sys- Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Police tems, substantial data entry costs will Department contracted with MapInfo

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their own maps of crime and commu- a minimum of 1 year to a single beat ICAM’s Relationship nity conditions and share them with within his or her district.5 Beat officers the community. This Program Focus are instructed to focus on problem to CAPS discusses ICAM in terms of its devel- solving, and dispatch procedures have In 1995, officers in all of Chicago’s opment and implementation; current been changed to limit the time they 25 police districts began using ICAM features, usage, and impact; planned spend responding to calls for service to better understand the problems in enhancements; and implications for outside their assigned beats.6 Beat their assigned areas and to develop other police departments. officers are also required to attend strategies to address them. The offi- regularly scheduled “beat meetings” cers also began to share ICAM maps The Context for with community residents. with residents, improving police- ICAM: Community community relations and giving citi- The evaluation of CAPS, partially zens a chance to help police cut down Policing funded by NIJ, has focused on the on crime by providing data for joint program’s implementation in the five police-community problem-solving ICAM was developed as part of CPD’s 7 prototype districts. The 1995 report efforts. Developing ICAM was thus far-reaching and ambitious community stated: policing strategy. Unlike many other an integral part of Chicago’s commu- nity policing approach. community policing programs that are [Many] prototype district residents limited to a single unit in the depart- detected positive changes in polic- The superintendent’s strategic ment, the Chicago Alternative Policing ing during its first year of opera- vision for ICAM. The importance of Strategy (CAPS) is departmentwide. tion, and residents of most of the using and sharing information through The strategic plan for reinventing CPD prototypes thought the police had technology was a key element in the describes CAPS as a “wholesale trans- grown more responsive to com- superintendent’s 1993 plan for imple- formation of the department, from a munity concerns. There was also menting CAPS: largely centralized, incident-driven, evidence that the program led to a crime suppression agency to a more significant decline in crime-related The Department must continue to decentralized, customer-driven organi- problems in three prototypes, drug seek out and apply new technolo- zation dedicated to solving problems, and gang decline in two districts, gies, as it has done in the past with preventing crime, and improving the and significant decreases in levels AFIS, Live-Scan, and other sys- quality of life in each of Chicago’s of physical decay in two areas. tems. New technologies must go 4 neighborhoods.” In fact, CAPS is Many of the changes in percep- beyond finding better ways to really a city program with strong sup- tions of crime problems in the detect offenders and respond to port from the Mayor’s office and close prototype areas were mirrored crimes: they must provide the involvement of city agencies, which by declines in officially reported information and analytical capa- have been directed to give top priority crime and survey measures of bilities that help police officers to “CAPS service requests” that affect victimization.8 and the community identify and crime and neighborhood safety. solve problems and, therefore, Wesley Skogan, director of the evalua- prevent crimes. CAPS was launched in April 1993 tion effort, called the results of CAPS in 5 prototype police districts; it has “among the most substantial I’ve Information is power. To support since been adopted in all of the city’s seen” compared to other community our new, decentralized approach 25 districts. CAPS revolves around policing programs in the country.9 to decisionmaking, the Depart- the beat officer, who is assigned for ment must establish a new, decen- tralized approach to data collec- tion and analysis as well. Systems

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should be put in place to give collaborations between researchers data, including the location of rapid- officers the information they and CPD had demonstrated both the transit stops, schools, youth organiza- need, when and where they need feasibility and utility of such an ap- tions, public housing facilities, parks, it. Where appropriate, these sys- proach. The first effort in 1988, an liquor stores, and demographic data.15 tems should also provide com- NIJ-funded project, involved CPD, These maps could depict not only munity members with up-to-date the Chicago Alliance for Neighbor- “hot spots” and other locations where statistical information to help hood Safety (CANS)—an umbrella crimes were committed but also an them in identifying and targeting organization that trains community array of associated and possibly con- problems.10 residents in problem solving)—and tributing factors. researchers at the University of Illinois The superintendent also emphasized at Chicago and Northwestern Univer- To build on these previous efforts, the importance of accessibility as a sity in creating a rudimentary map- in 1993 Officer Lewin and Detective feature of any new information sys- based crime analysis system in one Soltysiak first spent several weeks tem: “In many cases, computers will CPD district. In their report, the re- in the 11th District (Area 4) inter- need to be moved out of the back searchers stated that the system had an viewing beat officers and detectives room, where they have served as impact in a number of areas, including: and testing various formats to deter- specialized tools, and into the opera- mine the presentation and type of in- tional levels of our organization, [In] combining data from different formation that would be most useful to where they can become more flexible sources, in providing an institu- officers and detectives. The consensus and far-reaching tools of the police.”11 tional memory of a beat, in pro- was that maps—“simple, clear, and viding detectives with the ability easy-to-read”—would be the most use- Development to search for patterns more readily, ful format to display crime information. in permitting proactive manage- of ICAM ment by the district commander, Obtaining funding. However, one Using the superintendent’s strategic and in improving community re- obstacle to developing the computer- vision as a guide, Officer Jonathan lations between the police and ized mapping system was cost. For 12 Lewin (24th District) and Detective community organizations. a comprehensive system to be put in Larry Soltysiak (Area 4 Division) took place, money was needed to pay for Warren Friedman, executive director on the challenge of developing a sys- the hardware and software at all 25 of CANS, believes that initiation of tem that would provide useful infor- police districts and specialized CPD the ICAM project was a particularly mation directly to the beat officer. At units at the area level, which included significant step toward obtaining the time, beat officers relied on hand- a work station for running ICAM, a CPD acknowledgment of the impor- written offense reports to determine server for network maintenance and tance of working with community the level of criminal activity in their support, and a laser printer. organizations.13 assignment areas, which took days to CPD applied for and received a $1 analyze in any detail. Computerized Later, in 1991, researchers at the million award from the Illinois Motor incident data were kept on CPD’s Illinois Criminal Justice Information Vehicle Theft Prevention Council mainframe, but the system was ac- Authority and police officials in (IMVTPC) to buy the necessary equip- cessible only to trained computer CPD’s Area 4 teamed up to implement ment. IMVTPC, created in 1991 by operators. a map-based system for studying street the insurance industry, envisioned gang crime.14 The study helped iden- CPD’s prior experience with map- computerized mapping as an effective tify those areas with the highest risk of ping. Developing ICAM was not tool for auto theft investigators be- gang-related violence. This effort was CPD’s first attempt to implement cause it would allow a geographic notable because it combined police computerized mapping. Two earlier analysis of the relationship between data with a wide variety of community the location of a car theft and the

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location of the car’s recovery. Then in summer 1994 CPD Deputy number of ways, each of which re- IMVTPC supports a variety of vehi- Superintendent and CAPS Co-Project quires a few additional mouse clicks. cle theft prevention programs; for Director (then Deputy Chief) Charles As shown in exhibit 1, page 8, the user example, they provided funds for Ramsey made an unannounced visit can change the default query param- mobile data terminals for CPD patrol to the 24th District. Ramsey issued a eters by specifying one or more sec- cars in 1992, which enabled patrol challenge to the development team: ondary classifications of the primary officers to query State and national Implement a system “that is so user- offense, changing the desired geo- stolen vehicle files. friendly even I can make a map.”18 graphic area, changing the date and The team focused its efforts on devel- time range, or specifying a particular If computerized mapping could re- oping a system that, in terms of ease type of location. duce the number of auto thefts in of use, more closely resembles an Chicago—where two-thirds of the automated teller machine (ATM) than The ability to map offenses meeting State’s auto thefts occur—IMVTPC standard office automation software. these criteria is a standard feature of believed it could save the insurance In addition to changing ICAM’s hard- any map-based crime analysis system. industry millions of dollars each year. ware and software platforms,19 the What is unique about ICAM is the IMVTPC made the award even with team decided that ICAM would not way in which the user formulates the the understanding that the mapping require use of a keyboard (in fact, query. By default, ICAM maps of- system would cover all crimes, not ICAM PC’s do not even have key- fenses occurring in the past 10 days. just those related to automobiles.16 boards). Instead, all user selections However, any date and time range can and commands would be issued with be selected (e.g., the past 2 days or From prototype to implementation. a mouse. midnight to 8 a.m. during the past With funding secured, Lewin and month). The simplicity of the method Soltysiak, then joined by Gene Chin, In October 1994, an ICAM prototype for selecting a date and time range a senior systems analyst in CPD’s was set up in the 24th District. By illustrates the efforts made by the Data Systems Division, began devel- May 1995, ICAM was installed in all ICAM development team to ensure oping the mapping system. But after 25 districts. ICAM’s accessibility to officers. attending a workshop on using com- Since keyboards are not attached to puterized mapping for crime analysis ICAM Features ICAM PC’s, the traditional way of at the Illinois Criminal Justice Infor- specifying a date and time range— mation Authority in August 1993, the When the ICAM computer is turned typing in the starting and ending dates team realized that although many po- on, the main screen automatically and times—could not be used. Instead, lice departments had sophisticated appears (see “ICAM’s Query a calendar screen is displayed (see crime mapping systems, no depart- Screens”). The two main tasks that “ICAM’s Query Screens”), and the ment had a system that was accessible ICAM performs are indicated in the user simply clicks on the desired to beat officers.17 Thus, the team had boxes containing the “Do It!” buttons: month, day, and year for both the to create a unique prototype. In late ICAM can produce a map of reported start and end dates. There is a similar summer 1993, the development team offenses of a particular type in an area, screen for selecting the time range. set up its first model in CPD’s 24th or it can generate a list of the 10 most District. The results were disappoint- frequently reported offenses in a beat. After the user clicks “Do It!,” ICAM ing. Beat officers found the system runs the query against the offense too complicated to use, and the 10 to ICAM allows a user to generate a map data file and displays on the screen 15 minutes required to generate a map in as few as three mouse clicks. A both a map and a tabular view of the was considered unacceptable. simple query can be modified in a offenses meeting the specified criteria

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(see “ICAM’s Information Screens”). icon, with all the different icons being and formulating another query. A list The map displays the specified geo- shown in a map legend window. of the ten most frequently reported graphic area (e.g., district, sector, or offenses in a beat in the past 10 beat), the streets in this geographic At this point, the user has several op- days—the “Top Ten” feature of area, the names of major streets, and tions (see exhibit 2, page 10), includ- ICAM—can be obtained with just icons showing the location of each ing printing the map or tabular view of three mouse clicks. The default time offense meeting the specified criteria. the data, displaying community data, period of 10 days can be changed by If secondary offenses have been re- performing other geographic analyses, accessing the date and time selection quested, each type will have a different or returning to the ICAM Main Screen screens.

ICAM’s Query Screens

From the ICAM Main Screen, the user can select the default setting to map the locations of all reported robberies occurring in the past 10 days in a district; the user simply has to: TO MAKE MAP: 1. Click on the primary offense scroll button to display the list of primary offenses. DO IT! 2. From the list of primary offenses, click on “robbery.” 3. Click on the button labeled “Do It!” TOP TEN

The user could choose to pose a different query to obtain a list of the most frequently reported DO IT! offenses in a beat; in this instance, the user would: 1. Click on the “pick beat” scroll 8 20 958 30 95 button to display the list of beats in the district. 2. From the list of beats, click on the desired beat. 3. Click on the button labeled “Do It!” If the user wants to specify a differ- ent time and date range from the 10-day default period for the query, he or she moves to the following calendar screen and clicks on the time period desired.

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Exhibit 1 ICAM’s Mapping Features: Query Components

Component Options

Primary Offense Only one primary offense can be selected per map. cost of entering the data. Fortunately, Secondary Offense For the selected primary offense, up to 10 secondary ICAM was able to “piggyback” onto classifications can be selected. For example, if robbery existing data-entry procedures in the is the primary offense and the secondary offenses are “with a knife” and “with a gun,” then only robberies districts to minimize costs. Data-entry with a knife or a gun are mapped. procedures are standardized. At 6 a.m. in each district, offense reports written Geographic Area The choices are the entire district, one sector, or one during the previous 24 hours are en- beat. The default selection is the entire district. tered in a PC-based data base pack- Date Range Both a start and end date are selected. The default age—a practice instituted long before selection is the past 10 days. ICAM for the purpose of producing district “24-hour” reports. To enhance Time of Day Range Both a start and end time are selected. For example, if the user is only interested in offenses occurring during the data consistency, the user selects the day shift, 800 to 1600 would be selected. The values from predefined lists rather default selection is all day. than simply typing in values. For example, if the offense is a burglary, Type of Location The type of location includes those categories listed on the CPD General Offense case report—examples the user selects “burglary” from the include on a bus, in an apartment, at a business, and at list of offenses rather than typing in a church. If “in an apartment” is selected, then only the word “burglary.” Once these data offenses occurring in apartments would be mapped. are entered, the data-entry clerk fol- The default selection is all types of locations. lows a three-step procedure: (1) ex- ecuting a “geocode” routine on the data, during which the latitude and longitude of the location of each of- as contact persons to provide assis- ICAM fense are computed; (2) executing a tance to district personnel. Thus, the “copy” routine that extracts the of- Implementation development team adopted a “train fense data and writes it to a diskette; and Training the trainers” approach to ICAM and (3) executing a “load” routine that instruction. An official unveiling ceremony ac- copies the new offense data from the companied installation of ICAM at The development team also wrote an diskette to ICAM. These procedures each of the city’s 25 districts as the ICAM users’ guide and prepared a ensure that ICAM data are, at most, development team introduced the one-page “Quick Map” instruction 24 hours old. system to district police officials sheet, which was posted next to the The importance of the geocode step in and residents during the period from ICAM PC’s in each district station. this process should be emphasized. As October 1994 to May 1995. Although The ICAM PC’s were placed in a noted earlier, some addresses stored in ICAM was designed for easy accessi- common area (e.g., behind the district police files may be initially unmappa- bility, training in its use was still desk), rather than being locked in an ble because the underlying street maps needed by police officers at the district office, to make them accessible to are incomplete or inaccurate. A team stations. The ICAM development team police personnel around the clock. produced an 8-minute instructional of researchers from Loyola University video to be played during roll call at Quality of data. The availability of in Chicago encountered this problem all district stations. Detective Soltysiak timely and accurate data is key to in 1991 when they attempted to map also spent 2 days at each district sta- ICAM’s effective use. One of the the location of homicides in Chicago tion demonstrating ICAM to officers potential obstacles that police depart- using the U.S. Bureau of the Census and training district administrative ments face in implementing computer- computerized street files (i.e., TIGER managers, who would then serve ized mapping systems is the added files). The researchers found missing

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ICAM’s Information Screens

A query on criminal damage to vehicles would result in a map and tabular data. streets near the boundary of the city, unnamed and misnamed streets, and incorrect or missing address ranges. They corrected these problems and added important landmarks to the TIGER files.20

The researchers provided these im- proved files to the ICAM develop- ment team, who refined them even further. About 95 percent of the of- fenses entered at the district stations are geocoded automatically by the computer.21

Use and Impact of ICAM ICAM has fulfilled two of the key requirements for successfully imple- menting CAPS; it has provided: ■ A query on the top ten offenses in one beat does not generate a map but, instead, Police officers with an automated produces a simple list and graph. tool for analyzing timely and accurate crime information.

■ An effective and convenient mechanism for sharing information with the community.

Support for ICAM. As a result, ICAM has earned enthusiastic support from high-ranking city and CPD offi- cials. Mayor Daley, who attended 10 of the 25 district unveiling ceremonies for ICAM, has said, “ICAM is the best thing to come from the police depart- ment in years.”22 CPD Superintendent Matt Rodriguez has pointed to ICAM as the epitome of decentralized deci- sionmaking: “[ICAM] goes a long way to making the officer the chief of police of his beat.”23 CAPS Co-Project Directors Barbara McDonald and Charles Ramsey have seen ICAM

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Exhibit 2 ICAM Mapping Features: Options Once the Query is Run

Option Comment

Panning and Zooming The section of the map shown on the screen can be moved in any direction (panning), or the distance across the displayed section of the map can be changed (zooming).

View Details of Offenses A tabular view of the data is produced (see “ICAM’s Information Screens”). The data elements include: address, house or apartment number, case report number, crime code, primary offense classification, secondary offense classification, whether the offense is a Part 1 index crime, date, beat, start and end times, location code, type of location, number arrested, four analysis fields used to flag special offenses (e.g., domestic violence, gang-related offenses), offender description or name, vehicle make, vehicle model, vehicle year, and the beat in which the vehicle was taken.

Print Map The map can be printed. A disclaimer is shown at the bottom of the printout indicating that the classification of the offense is based only on the facts known at the time the offense was reported (see exhibit 3). Printed maps can be shared with the community.

Print Tabular View The tabular view of the data can be printed. However, because the offense information available of Data in ICAM is unverified, printed tabular views of the data are not shared with the community.

Add Vacant Buildings The locations of vacant buildings can be added to the map. to the Map

Add Schools to the Map The locations of schools can be added to the map.

Add Establishments with The locations of establishments with liquor licenses can be added to the map. Liquor Licenses to the Map

Add “EL” Stops to the The locations of Chicago Transit Authority elevated (EL) railway stops can be added to the map. Map

Radius Select A list of all offenses within a specified distance from a specified location on the map can be generated (e.g., all offenses within 1,000 feet of a school) and displayed in a table.

Area Select A list of all offenses within a specified beat within the sector or district can be generated and displayed in a table.

as critical to the success of CAPS. percent use it rarely, if ever. One mea- in police departments is for crime ICAM, Ramsey said, has been “a sure of ICAM use—the number of analysis. Crime analysts use mapping linchpin of the whole strategy.”24 queries run at each district (a query software to prepare crime alert bulle- results in either a map or a “Top Ten” tins and other reports. Because of Of equal importance has been the re- list)—can be tracked. From June 26, ICAM’s simplicity, all CPD officers action at the district stations. Although 1995, to July 25, 1995, a total of 6,689 have access to analytic tools that are no formal survey of officers has been queries were run citywide—an aver- unavailable to police officers in other taken, in general, they have praised age of 223 queries per day citywide, departments. No determinations can the simplicity of the system and said or 9 queries per day in each district. be made of the number of crimes it helps them in performing their jobs. Even more revealing is the increasing ICAM has helped to resolve, but anec- use of the system over time. The num- dotes of ICAM’s effectiveness as a Data on ICAM usage. The actual ber of queries in the period’s fourth crime-solving tool for CPD are plenti- number of CPD officers who are using week was 34 percent higher than in ful (see “ICAM in Action”). ICAM is not known. The development the first week. team estimated that 20 percent of all ICAM also helps beat officers to make officers use ICAM regularly, 60 per- Crime analysis. In general, the most decisions about their work plans. Of- cent use ICAM occasionally, and 20 common use of computerized mapping ficer Valeria Mac, a beat officer in the

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24th District, said she regularly uses ICAM as an aid in deciding where to concentrate her foot patrol activities. When Mac returns to her beat after a few days off, she prints out ICAM maps so she can see where crimes were committed.

Beat meetings. Since the success of CAPS depends on police-community partnerships, beat meetings are a pri- mary mechanism for soliciting com- munity involvement. These meetings, which occur regularly in each of CPD’s 279 beats, are intended to be “the forums in which officers and residents jointly develop plans for Members of the ICAM development team check out the program. tackling neighborhood problems.”25

The cornerstone to developing strate- routinely distributes ICAM maps at whether the problems are recurring.26 gies that address neighborhood prob- beat meetings, has noted, “everybody Warren Friedman, of CANS, a long- lems is the availability of timely and likes the maps.” In one beat, commu- time advocate of police-community accurate information on their nature nity residents had already been pro- partnerships, is pleased that CPD now and extent. ICAM is helping to fulfill ducing hand-drawn maps, so they routinely shares information with the this information need as officers rou- were especially appreciative of ICAM. community. ICAM “helps to facilitate tinely bring maps to meetings and In many beats, community residents discussions with the police depart- distribute them to residents (see ex- call Officer Mullen prior to the meet- ment,” Friedman says. But he cautions hibit 3). However, the tabular view ings and request that she bring certain that it is too early to tell if the tech- of the data, available to officers using maps, particularly those depicting nique will help residents develop more ICAM, is not made public because it offenses that residents find most effective and appropriate strategies to is not fully verified (i.e., ICAM con- problematic. combat neighborhood problems.27 tains information recorded on the ini- tial offense report that has not yet In many districts, ICAM is relatively Court Advocacy project. ICAM is been validated by detectives or other new, so the impact of ICAM-produced important to another component of followup investigators). In addition, maps among residents is still un- community involvement in CAPS— exact street addresses of the offenses known. Also unknown is the extent to the Court Advocacy project. Court are excluded to prevent identification which residents are using ICAM to Advocacy units exist in every police of victims. However, the maps allow develop new strategies for improving district. Their purpose is to “identify residents to see the approximate loca- their neighborhoods. A recent CANS crime problems within their police tions where offenses occurred and publication encouraged residents at- districts—especially those...which provide an overall understanding of tending beat meetings to take advan- negatively impact upon quality of crime in the area. tage of the maps to prioritize life—and to follow those cases in neighborhood problems, develop and court in order to actively participate One neighborhood relations officer in plan a strategy for addressing prob- in and have an effect on the criminal the 24th District, Athena Mullen, who lems, and, later, use ICAM to assess justice process. The intended out-

Program Focus 11 PROGRAM FOCUS

ICAM in Action

Anecdotes of how ICAM has been used to and residents were able to recover their ■ Tactical officers in the 24th District help solve crimes include the following: stolen property, which had been stored in received a complaint from residents that the home of one teenager. drugs were being sold at a particular street ■ In March 1995, three officers in the corner. Using ICAM to check crime con- 10th District caught three teenagers in the ■ In the 22nd District, officers learned of ditions at that corner, the officers found act of burglarizing a home.28 The sur- a rash of burglaries occurring at schools there had been numerous prostitution ar- rounding area recently had experienced a and used ICAM to map the exact locations rests, but no drug activity. Further check- rash of burglaries, and the officers sus- of these burglaries and determine patterns ing revealed that one particular female— pected that the teenagers were responsible about the times they were occurring. Of- who matched the description provided by for many of them. The teenagers con- ficers then established surveillance at the residents—had been arrested several times fessed to committing several of the bur- appropriate times and locations and soon at this corner. In this case, ICAM revealed glaries, but they could not remember the arrested a burglar as he was fleeing a the true nature of a suspected problem in addresses of the homes. Back at the district school. a neighborhood. station, the officers used ICAM to gener- ■ In the 3rd District, residents at a beat ate a map and a list of all burglaries occur- ■ In the 7th District, an ICAM map meeting complained about an increase in ring in the past 6 months in the general showed that the locations of recovered criminal activity. Using ICAM, officers vicinity of where the teenagers were oper- stolen vehicles were clustered around spe- spotted an area in the beat that had experi- ating. With the map and list as a guide, cific abandoned buildings. Armed with enced an increase in burglaries and robber- the officers then drove the teenagers to this information, police officials worked ies. Tactical officers set up surveillance specific homes to determine which ones with the city’s Department of Planning to and arrested three offenders for armed they had burglarized. With just a few expedite demolition of the buildings. hours’ work, 11 burglaries were cleared, robbery.

comes...include: encouraging police/ Current ICAM limitations. Although CPD plans to expand usage and train- citizen participation in fighting crime ICAM represents a major improve- ing while making major revisions to [thus] sending a strong message to ment in information delivery systems the system. judges, prosecutors and others in the for CPD, its capabilities are still lim- criminal justice system that the com- ited. Reported offenses are the only Future ICAM munity is involved and watching.”29 police data that can be mapped—data on calls for service and arrests are not Enhancements Eileen Donnersberger, manager of the included in the system. Moreover, the A new CPD directive being imple- Court Advocacy project, sees ICAM offense classification is based only on mented in 1996 requires beat officers as “a useful tool for deciding what the facts known at the time the offense to bring ICAM maps to monthly beat 30 For ex- types of cases to follow.” was reported. If, after further investi- meetings. ICAM is also being in- ample, an ICAM map might show a gation, the classification changes, a cluded in the CPD training academy series of prostitution offenses occur- modification would not be reflected in curriculum, so that candidates will be ring at a particular intersection; track- ICAM. In addition, only one offense instructed on its use. Other enhance- ing these cases through the criminal can be mapped at a time; a map show- ments planned for ICAM will make justice system might be an effective ing the locations of burglaries and it more accessible to the public and strategy for addressing the prostitution drug offenses, for example, cannot be to the CPD command staff. problem at that site. Use of ICAM in generated. Finally, district personnel Court Advocacy units is still new, but can map offenses occurring only ICAM 2. The overhaul of ICAM be- Donnersberger sees ICAM as having within their district. A host of reasons gan in September 1995 with a new “tremendous potential.” While the account for these limitations, including system dubbed ICAM 2. As CAPS advocacy units currently rely on CPD time and resource constraints and the Co-Project Director Barbara to provide them with ICAM maps, requirement that the system be as McDonald explained: they will soon have direct access to simple as possible to use. Recognizing the system. ICAM’s successes and limitations,

12 National Institute of Justice PROGRAM FOCUS

Exhibit 3 Burglary Offenses in Sector 2 (39*) at Residences

W. Juneway Ter. N. Eastlake Ter.

N. Damen Ave.

The current version of ICAM has

N. Clark St. fulfilled its original purpose and W. Howard St. has achieved national exposure as N. Ridge Ave. | ||

an innovative, cutting-edge law |||| | enforcement application. It contin- ||

ues to assist in the day-to-day || W. Jarvis Ave.

problem-solving activities of po- ||| W. Jarvis Ave. | lice officers and members of the Touhy ||| Park W. Chase

community and is a critical com- || | W. Touhy Ave.

ponent of the CAPS model, pro- | |||| viding useful information directly || Loyola

to the hands of users. However, W. Estes Ave. Park ||| N. Wolcott Ave. W. Greenleaf Ave. we now propose a complete over- N. Rogers Ave. haul of the ICAM system. When ||

N. Ravenswood Ave. Ravenswood N. W. Lunt Ave. |

N. Sheridan Rd.

N. Glenwood Ave. ||||

N. Ashland Ave. complete, the new system will be N. Paulina St.

known as ICAM 2. It will become W. Morse Ave. more powerful, more flexible,

more useful, and more innovative || than the current version, yet [it] will become even easier to use.31 W. Pratt Ave. Burglary Crimes33 Superintendent Rodriguez subsequent- 00:00 08/01/95-23:59 08/29/95 ly approved the ICAM 2 development Forcible Entry (27) Unlawful Entry No Force (8) plan. ICAM 2 made its debut in May Attempt Forcible Entry (4) 1996 in the 3rd and 12th Districts, and citywide installation should be *This data reflects initial case classification based on facts known at the time the incident was completed by October 1996.32 Key reported. It may be revised at a later time. enhancements include:

■ Increased public access to kiosks in the city, which provide (via a not have access to the Internet at their ICAM. Because ICAM terminals touch screen) information on city ser- home or office can access the CAPS are located in secured parts of each vices and the CAPS program. A proto- Web page at the city’s public libraries. district station and certain information type touch-screen version of ICAM ■ available in ICAM cannot be revealed was recently demonstrated in the 19th Increased police access to ICAM. to the community (e.g., the address District, and an 85-year-old resident ICAM was initially designed as a tool where the offense occurred), the sys- (who had never before used a com- for beat officers. Under ICAM 2, of- tem is not directly accessible to the puter) generated a crime map of her ficers and detectives assigned to gang, public. A modified version of ICAM, neighborhood in less than 1 minute. narcotics, and youth units also will one with certain features disabled and have access to the maps. A modified some data elements blocked out, is In addition, a modified version of version of ICAM—the Command being developed to be made available ICAM will be available on the Internet Information System—will be devel- through two new and innovative ways. via the World Wide Web. Chicago oped for the CPD’s command staff to One is through public information currently has a “Web page” that is a support police planning at the sector, kiosks. Chicago currently has 50 such comprehensive source of information district, area, and citywide levels. on CAPS.34 Chicago residents who do

Program Focus 13 PROGRAM FOCUS

■ Analysis capabilities. of the ICAM approach are clear, par- ICAM 2 will vastly improve ticularly for departments implement- the system’s analytical capa- ing community policing. Since com- bilities. It will allow officials munity policing depends on individual to perform temporal analyses officers taking the initiative to solve (e.g., track changes in the problems and having residents become level of crime over time in active partners in this effort, access different geographic areas), to timely and accurate information is exhibit families of offenses essential. While developing an ICAM on a single map (e.g., crimes system costs more than an “analyst- against persons or crimes only” system,37 members of CPD, against property), map of- from the Superintendent to beat offi- fenses occurring within a cers, strongly urge other departments specified distance of a speci- to consider developing a system that fied location (e.g., produce a gives officers this direct access. map of drug offenses occur- ring within 1,000 feet of a Notes particular school), and map “hot spots” of criminal activ- 1Rich, Thomas F. 1995. The Use of Com- ity.36 The challenge for the puterized Mapping in Crime Control and Prevention Programs. Research in Action. ICAM development team Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice. will be to provide these new NCJ 155182. features while preserving

Photo by Jonathan Cohon 2 the system’s user-friendly Personal interview with Sergeant Mark At public kiosks, Chicago citizens can learn about city Stallo, Dallas Police Department, in October services; soon they will be able to obtain ICAM maps. nature. 1995. ICAM will eventually be installed on Implications for Other 3Personal interview with Officer Angelo laptop computers in CPD patrol cars. Morton, Los Angeles Police Department, in Police Departments October 1995. ■ Access to more information. Police departments considering a com- 4Rodriguez, Matt L. 1993. Together We Can. The initial version of ICAM allowed puterized mapping system have two Chicago: Chicago Police Department, p. 13. officers to access only offenses in their broad design options: employing 5 particular district and a limited set of The CPD divides the city into five areas; trained analysts to produce maps for areas are divided into districts; districts are nonpolice data. But the implementation officers or developing a system similar divided into sectors; and sectors are divided of a new citywide 911 emergency com- to ICAM. In the first scenario, trained into beats. There are 279 beats in the city. The munications system and fiber optic net- analysts use commercially available size of beats ranges from 0.31 to 2.54 square miles, with the average size being 0.82 square work will link all police facilities and mapping software to either produce a many city agencies, allowing ICAM 2 to miles. Eight to nine officers are assigned to set of prespecified maps on a periodic each beat, with one or two on duty at any access citywide information from sev- basis or respond to ad hoc requests by given time. eral data bases, including calls for ser- officers for maps. vice and arrests.35 Offense data in ICAM 6Responsibility for responding to calls for 2 also will be more accurate, including The second option allows officers to service within a beat is shared between rapid response units and beat officers. Rapid updated information on offense classi- produce their own maps. The benefits response units patrol and respond to calls fication and case status. for service throughout a sector.

14 National Institute of Justice PROGRAM FOCUS

7The two reports are: Chicago Community 17This conclusion is consistent with the 28This story was featured on Chicago Crime- Policing Evaluation Consortium. 1994. findings of a recent NIJ assessment of Watch ‘95, the CPD’s cable television program Community Policing in Chicago, Year One: computerized mapping in crime control and (Karl Productions, Show No. 25, May 1995). An Interim Report. Chicago: Illinois Criminal prevention programs. See Rich, 1995. Justice Information Authority; and Chicago 29Chicago Community Policing Evaluation Community Policing Evaluation Consortium. 18Personal interview with Deputy Superinten- Consortium. 1995, p. 75. 1995. Community Policing in Chicago, Year dent Charles H. Ramsey in August 1995. Two: An Interim Report. Chicago: Illinois 30Personal interview with Eileen Donners- Criminal Justice Information Authority. 19The development team decided to change berger in September 1995. the hardware platform from Sun Unix work 8Chicago Community Policing Evaluation stations to PC’s running Microsoft Windows. 31July 27, 1995, memorandum from CAPS Consortium. 1995, p. 79. This improved both the speed and ease of Co-Project Director Barbara McDonald to use of the system. Microsoft Visual Basic, Superintendent Matt Rodriguez. 9Criminal Justice Newsletter. 1995. MapInfo for Windows, and MapBasic for Community Policing in Chicago Gets High Windows were used to develop ICAM. 32Many of the key enhancements are being Marks From Evaluators. Washington, DC: funded with a grant from the Justice Depart- Pace Publications. Volume 26, Number 16. 20Block, Richard. 1993. “Geocoding of ment’s Community Oriented Policing Services August 15, 1995. Crime Incidents Using the 1990 TIGER File: (COPS) office. The Chicago Example” in Proceedings of 10Rodriguez, 1993, p. 17. the Workshop on Crime Analysis through 33The icons do not necessarily equal the Computer Mapping. Chicago: Illinois number of incidents because more than one 11Rodriguez, 1993, p. 25. Criminal Justice Information Authority. incident occurred at the same address.

12Maltz, Michael D., Gordon, Andrew C., 21For ICAM and most other mapping applica- 34Chicago’s Web page can be accessed by and Friedman, Warren. 1989. Mapping Crime tions, geocoding is a two-phase process. pointing a Web browser to in Its Community Setting: A Study in Event During the “automated” phase, the mapping http://www.ci.chi.il.us. Geography. Washington, DC: National software attempts to assign geographic 35 Institute of Justice, p. vi. coordinates (e.g., latitude and longitude) to In light of CAPS, including calls for service as many addresses as possible. Next, during in ICAM is particularly important, since calls 13Personal interview with Warren Friedman in the “manual” phase, the user examines those for service often more closely reflect citizen August 1995. addresses not geocoded during the automated concerns regarding fear and disorder than phase one-by-one and attempts to geocode as reported offenses. 14Block, Carolyn Rebecca, and Richard many as possible. With ICAM, 95 percent of 36 Block. 1993. Street Gang Crime in Chicago. offenses are geocoded during the automated ICAM 2 will eventually integrate a software Research in Brief. Washington, DC: National phase. After the manual phase, virtually all package called STAC, developed by research- Institute of Justice. NCJ 144782. the offenses are geocoded. ers at the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, which locates clusters of criminal 15 From this effort, the researchers developed 22July 27, 1995, memorandum from CAPS activity in an area. a handbook that describes the data that could Co-Project Director Barbara McDonald to 37 be included in a geographic data base or a CPD Superintendent Matt Rodriguez. The ICAM development team had to write geoarchive. See Block, Carolyn Rebecca, and software to allow officers to formulate a query Lynn A. Green, The Geoarchive Handbook: A 23Personal interview with Superintendent Matt and to manipulate the generated maps. The Guide for Developing a Geographic Database Rodriguez in August 1995. development team recommends that other as an Information Foundation for Community police departments allow four person-months Policing. Chicago: Illinois Criminal Justice 24Personal interview with Deputy Superinten- of time for this software development, assum- Information Authority, August 1994. dent Charles Ramsey in August 1995. ing the police department has or can gain access to skilled programmers. Development 16Personal interview with Gerard Ramker 25Chicago Community Policing Evaluation of ICAM required expertise in Visual Basic and Mark Mattozzi of the Illinois Motor Consortium. 1995, p. 26. (Microsoft Corporation), MapInfo for Vehicle Theft Prevention Council. IMVTPC Windows (MapInfo Corporation), and Map- believed that if the 50,000 annual auto thefts 26Hennelly, John. 1995. “You Can ICAM” in Basic for Windows (MapInfo Corporation). in Chicago could be reduced by 10 percent, Neighborhoods. Chicago: Chicago Alliance This time estimate does not include time to a $24 million savings could be realized for Neighborhood Safety. Summer 1995. develop systems requirements or to test and (assuming a $4,800 insurance industry cost install the system. per stolen vehicle). 27Personal interview with Warren Friedman in August 1995.

Program Focus 15 On the Cover: Using the ICAM sys- About This Study tem, a police officer generates a map of crime offenses in his district. (Photo This Program Focus was written by Interviews were also conducted with by Jonathan Cohon) Thomas F. Rich, an associate in the law Warren Friedman, executive director, and public policy area of Abt Associ- Chicago Alliance for Neighborhood This report was supported by Research Ap- ates Inc. Interviews for this article were Safety; Richard Block, Loyola Univer- plications contract #OJP–94–C–007 from the National Institute of Justice to Abt Asso- conducted with the following members sity of Chicago; Carolyn Block, Illinois ciates Inc. Points of view and opinions in this of the Chicago Police Department: Criminal Justice Information Authority; document are those of the authors and do not Jill DuBois, Chicago Community Polic- necessarily reflect the official position or Matt Rodriguez, superintendent; ing Evaluation Consortium; Eileen policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Charles Ramsey, deputy superintendent; Donnersberger, project manager, Court Barbara McDonald, director, research Advocacy Project, City of Chicago; and development; Officer Jonathan Sergeant Mark Stallo, Dallas Police The National Institute of Justice is a compo- Lewin; Detective Larry Soltysiak; Gene Department; Officer Angelo Morton, nent of the Office of Justice Programs, which Chin, senior systems analyst; and the Los Angeles Police Department; and the also includes the Bureau of Justice Assis- following staff from the 24th District— following staff from the Illinois Motor tance, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Commander Thomas Byrne, Officer Vehicle Theft Prevention Council— Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Preven- Valeria Mac, Officer Athena Mullen, Gerard Ramker and Mark Mattozzi. tion, and the Office for Victims of Crime. and Officer Jerry Martin. NCJ 160764 July 1996

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