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One element in the fight against crime is being able to promptly and accurately access and record the related data. The Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Center for Crime Science and Violence Prevention’s (CCSVP) recent creation of an extraction tool will help police departments across the country do just that. 

“The extraction tool is a piece of software code that allows a police department to create a database of their crime incidents standardized to the FBI’s National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS), without needing more complex access to their Records Management System (RMS),” said Dennis Mares, PhD, professor of Criminal Justice Studies and director of CSSVP in Belleville. 

“Especially smaller police departments lack the capacity to access this data easily,” continued Mares, who devised the tool. “The extraction code handles files that are submitted to the NIBRS reporting system on site at the police department, which means the agency has immediate access to the information, as the FBI generally takes up to two years to make the data available.” 

In addition, the tool allows for agencies to have a quick way to tally crimes and victims, and to map the data. The tool has the capacity to work with 80 percent of U.S. police departments. 

“Effectively, it allows you to explore both quantitative and qualitative aspects of crime in a community,” shared Mares. “That is what you need when you are looking to find ways to reduce the impact of crime on a community. Commercial solutions to do the same thing typically cost tens of thousands of dollars per year.” 

As a result of identifying and mapping criminal acts, law enforcement can note any trends and devise strategies to reduce criminality. 

“One example would be to concentrate patrols at the times and places crime is high,” said Mares. “It also allows police to share the data with their community. At CCSVP, we believe it is important that the community is involved in tackling crime and should have insight on what goes on.” 

Mares said his creation of the tool is closely in line with the research center’s mission. 

“Our goal is to help area criminal justice agencies become more data driven, and because we also want to improve public access to this data,” he said. 

“Our next goal is to further improve the user friendliness of the product by creating a standalone software app that incorporates data extraction and analysis/mapping in one feature,” explained Mares. “We recently submitted a grant request with the Department of Justice that would help fund this. This would help make it much easier to implement the tool and give us more opportunities to test the product with agencies out of state, to ensure optimal performance and compatibility. Ultimately, we want to make this available and functional for all police departments.” 

Center for Crime Science and Violence Prevention (CCSVP) – The primary focus of SIUE’s CCSVP is to assist all stakeholders in the criminal justice field in their efforts to reduce crime and violence. The Center works with criminal justice agencies, community organizations, vendors, faculty, and students to improve public safety in the St. Louis and Southern Illinois regions. CCSVP provides a range of services, including grant development, data analytics, crime analysis, mapping, dashboard development, and (evaluation) research. 

Photo:
Dennis Mares, PhD, professor of Criminal Justice Studies and director of CSSVP in Belleville.