At a glance
- AI solution relieves scarce police personnel resources
- Crime hotspots are identified with foresight and task forces are controlled in a targeted manner
- Success rates are significantly higher compared to experience-based approaches
The initial situation of our client
Artificial intelligence (AI) can make processes more efficient in practically every area and can therefore significantly reduce the needed human effort. For example, we developed an AI solution for the police department of one of the largest cities in Germany to predict crimes – also called predictive policing. Just like the rest of Germany, the city was struggling with far too few personnel resources to get a grip on the rising number of burglaries by organised gangs. Statistical methods for identifying potential hot spots hardly helped, as they practically made no use of the extensive case data that had been documented.
The solution for our client
The design of our solution shows that developing AI applications does not necessarily require high investments in new technologies. Since the police department’s IT infrastructure was already based on Microsoft technologies, we simply used the already existing SQL Server as a basis.
With the Analysis Services, we built a customised forecasting software that directly accessed the police’s internal databases, such as case details or geographic and demographic data. The Reporting Services were used to create an easy-to-use forecasting tool as well as a forecasting quality assessment. Finally, a special classification procedure identifies the quadrants with the highest probability of burglary and displays them in colour on a map in Power BI. The resulting forecasts are generated automatically on a daily basis and distributed to all police directors in the city.
How data turns into new values
With the diverse police data as a basis, the forecasting software makes an effective contribution to the prevention of residential burglaries by intensive offenders. Currently, the prediction of future burglaries is up to seven times better than previous experience-based approaches. The police forces show a targeted presence in the identified danger areas. In this way, potential perpetrators are deterred and residents are made aware of possible subsequent offences.
As the data used is constantly supplemented by new findings, the system continues to learn and provide ever more accurate insights. The new solution also proves to be an efficient repository of many years of police experience. Last but not least, the forecasting software can be maintained by the police themselves and can also be extended to other areas of crime.
turn your data into value.
