Miami Police Department Data-driven Directed Patrol Program

The City of Miami Police Department (MPD) proposes to reduce crime where Miami’s violent crime is most concentrated-- Little Haiti, Downtown, Allapattah, Little Havana and Liberty City. CRH Analysis Consulting conducted a crime analysis assessment of MPD on behalf of the National Public Safety Partnership (PSP) and Bureau of Justice Crime Analysis on Demand program. Per the assessment, MPD has less than half of the crime analysts needed to service a department its size and analysts do not have the time or expertise to develop patterns and identify missions to provide directed patrol to areas of heightened risk. MPD needs to create a mechanism using the latest technology to automate the process of analyzing vast amounts of data to effectively assess activities in support of its hotspot policing strategy. This audit provided recommendations for the acquisition and deployment of new proactive technology and for improvements in the analytical workflow, process and dissemination of actionable crime data.

The Miami Police Department Data-Driven Directed Patrol Program will respond to this recommendation by using $497,000 in PSP Capacity Building funding to acquire a hotspot analysis platform software and hardware to enable MPD to transition from manual hotspot analysis reporting to an automated system that will determine the deployment of directed patrols in target neighborhoods. A Criminologist Consulting Firm will be procured to assist in developing evidence-based crime reduction strategies specific to each target neighborhood’s needs. The project will embed a team of civilian subject matter experts from the Policing Lab (PL), a local non-profit that provides technical assistance to local agencies with the aim of reducing both violent crime and the harms of the criminal justice system.  PL will train MPD personnel and set up the systems and procedures to reach the following objectives: 1) build hotspot policing capacity and 2) enhance the directed patrol process. By the end of the project, MPD will have trained Crime Intelligence Details in each police district, an Action Plan for each district that focuses on crime types and integrates crime reductions strategies; a Planning and Implementation Guide for each police district with detailed instruction on how implement the program using the new technology; and adoption of the updated hotspot policing and direct patrol process into MPD’s Departmental Orders. This project will directly benefit the residents of the target neighborhoods, where efforts will be focused.