Crime Spike Detector

The Spike Detector uses advanced geographic statistical analysis to identify unusual clusters of crime, automatically alerting appropriate police officials.

Client: Philadelphia Police Department

Challenge: The Philadelphia Police Department (PPD) convenes COMPSTAT meetings to exchange information between districts and command staff as well as to track changing crime patterns. These meetings are organized around geography and statistics, but any given district is only reviewed once per month. In addition to the web-based tools already available to them, the PPD wanted to experiment with statistical data mining techniques that would enable more rapid discovery and communication of geographic crime patterns.

Solution: Funded by the Office of the US Attorney, the Crime Spike Detector applies geographic statistical tools to the discovery of abrupt changes in the geographic clusters of crime in the police incident database. The system isolates these aberrations into a cluster, or 'crime spike'. When such a cluster is identified, a detailed report is automatically e-mailed to the district command staff responsible for the affected area, allowing them to examine the cluster and take action based on the new information.

Outcomes: The Spike Detector benefits both the Philadelphia Police Department and the broader crime analysis community. It provides a more rapid and highly focused evaluation of current conditions in a police district than was previously possible. The system also looks at clusters that span district boundaries and alerts command staff on both sides of these arbitrary administrative lines, resulting in more effective deployment decisions.

Publications:
Spike Detector White Paper
PowerPoint Presentation