Predictive Policing Comes to Morgan Hill, California

July 15, 2012 - PRLog -- PredPol, the predictive policing company, has partnered with Morgan Hill Police to bring predictive policing to this Santa Clara County community. While the program has only been in effect there for a week, already police have arrested six people on suspicion of various crimes.

The PredPol uses a complex algorithm to identify 500-square-foot geographical areas for police to patrol. These locations are where crime is likely to occur - providing predictions for law enforcement that have up until this point exclusively relied on reactive-based policing.  

Morgan Hill Police Chief David Swing told the Morgan Hill Times the use of the software is part of the department’s strategy to use “intelligence-led policing” and to use resources more efficiently.

Individual officers might be hard-pressed to name the neighborhoods where incidents happen less often but where crime is still a problem, Swing said. And that’s where PredPol comes in.

“There are areas where crime is likely to occur, but we’re not as frequently called there, and PredPol keeps those areas on our radar,” Swing said.

According to Morgan Hill Police Sgt. Shane Palsgrove, the intricate system also gives small cities like Morgan Hill access to complex, in-depth analytic capabilities previously only available to large cities or businesses,

PredPol was developed by researchers from Santa Clara University and UCLA, and is based in part on sociological studies of criminal behavior, including the insight that burglars often visit the same area.

The Morgan Hill department wants to eventually apply the system to drug-related offenses and vehicle accidents, Palsgrove told the Morgan Hill Times.

Applying PredPol to traffic-related incidents could be even more useful to the public, Sgt. Palsgrove said. If the data is shared with motorists, they might be able to respond by driving more safely and with more awareness in those areas.