The idea was like a lot of other great ideas. When it was conceived, the immediate reaction was: “Why didn’t anyone think of this sooner?”

Lieutenant Travis Martinez still remembers the “light bulb” moment. “GPS was starting to replace dye packs on money in banks,” he recalled. “And I thought, why can’t we do it for burglaries?”¹ The idea was to affix an Electronic Satellite Pursuit (ESP) to an item like a laptop computer. In that way, the Redlands, California, Police Department could track the item’s movement—including, potentially, its movement post-theft. Available only to law enforcement, financial institutions, and corporate security teams, the ESP has potential as a stolen item recovery tool, but it had to be tested, first. Officers placed an ESP-equipped computer inside a vehicle and parked it in an area that had lately experienced a rash of vehicle burglaries. It didn’t take long for a bite.

“We put it out at 6:30, and by 7:15, we got a notification saying it was moving,” Martinez said. “We found a couple, and, in their house, they had [stolen items] from other cars… We cleared 15 vehicle burglary cases that night.”²

The ESP, manufactured by Pennsylvania-based 3SI Security Systems, has paid dividends for the Redlands Police Department. Officers can place the device on all kinds of items that may be at risk for theft, from jewelry to pharmaceutical bottles. Since June 2015, the department has made more than 200 arrests, including those of 16 bicycle thieves, as a result of the ESP. It’s an impressive number, especially considering that Redlands Police Department, like many departments, has been subject to staff and budget cuts in recent years. In the case of Redlands, the department was reduced from 98 officers to 76.

But, for approximately $450 apiece, officers received a team of tiny, 24/7 “patrols.”

“The technology is a force multiplier,” Martinez said. “Before, we’d have volunteers drive through parking lots [seeking burglars], but that was just a few minutes out of 24 hours.”³

It is just one illustration of how global positioning systems (GPS), and geographic information systems (GIS)—software that captures and interprets GPS or other geographic data for specific purposes—can help law enforcement agencies do their job more efficiently. From item tracking to predictive policing, GPS goes far beyond driving directions. “It’s a game changer,” Martinez said. “It’s a no-brainer. Why didn’t we do this before?”⁴

Surveillance and Tracking

Although it is a fairly new technology, having been operational only since the mid-1990s, the popularity of GPS has expanded quickly. One of the technology’s most intuitive applications for law enforcement purposes—surveillance and tracking—has similarly grown by leaps and bounds.

For example, GeoSpatial Technologies (GST) is a California-based solutions provider offering tracking capabilities for law enforcement and public safety. Their tracking software includes automatic vehicle locator (AVL) capabilities, which can be shared with other smartphones and individual officers.

“Personnel tracking is important for police operations on many occasions,” said GST technical account manager Gary Santos. “For instance, during special events requiring increased security on the streets, uniformed and plain-clothed officers assigned to the streets can each hold a smartphone or a personal tracking device so that the incident commander and dispatchers can see their position at any moment.”⁵

Social media channels are another rich source of geographically specific information. The free, open-source information available there from users can help police identify problems before they spill into the physical world. The only problem for officers is finding time to sift through social media posts and identify meaningful patterns—especially in a resource-constrained environment.

LexisNexis Risk Solutions, a California-based data analytics provider, is one firm that can do the work for law enforcement agencies. The company offers the Social Media Monitor service as an add-on to Accurint, its well-known public records database service. According to Rick Graham, a law enforcement business development specialist for LexisNexis Risk Solutions, the service can, for example, read through millions of tweets in one day. “The number of hours that it would take for people to siphon through that volume and find out what pertains to them would take forever,” Graham said. “How long would you need to scroll through all of that?”⁶

Long popular as a source of data-mining and trend-spotting in the retail marketing sector, law enforcement is now tapping into social media’s potential, Graham said. The LexisNexis Social Media Monitor electronically tracks about 10 of the most popular social media channels, and the monitoring can be customized by location, keyword, and more.

“Our interest is in intelligence gathering,” Graham observed. “Things that solve crimes or help you get in front of crimes. If two gangs are beefing on Twitter or somewhere else on social media, for example, you can see that.”⁷

Because LexisNexis sells the Social Media Monitor as a bundle with their public records service, customers need only “subscribe and toggle in,” Graham said.⁸

Mapping and Predictive Policing

GPS and GIS can add another dimension to crime mapping—sometimes literally, proponents say.

Identifying patterns in the what, when, where, and how of crimes and other various activities can help police departments deploy officers with more information at hand.

GST’s CrimeMap suite uses data as the building blocks for crime reports based on highly customized needs, which vary widely by circumstance. Searches for specific names and locations, as well as queries by time of day, day of the week, crime type, and various other factors all are possible.

One way companies can do this type of mapping is through a technique known as geofencing, which can provide an accurate visual window inside facilities, with precision down to each floor.

Most maps are three-dimensional. But a new tool called ArcLive takes users into 4-D territory by incorporating time alongside several other layers of data that provide detailed maps and predictive analytics for all first responders.

“It’s the fusion of information,” said John South, CEO of Patrocinium, the Virginia company that developed ArcLive. “Time is overlaid with law enforcement data and fire data… You can use it predictively.”⁹

The service can help police prepare for major activities and events, where having detailed access to indoor areas—and what may be going on inside them at any given time—can be a major advantage.

“A building on Bluetooth can geofence by floor,” South said. “For special events, during the Super Bowl or something on a college campus, you can geofence multiple facilities to break it down by section… You can visually see the amount of space. It digitizes the emergency action plan and instantly provides virtual triage.”¹⁰

Geofencing, South said, means that officers can be forewarned for what may be occurring around them or has yet to occur. “In an incident, a lot of times there’s no data until they get there,” South said. “It’s real-time visual incident management. You see how many people are in and outside the building. You can begin to see movement. It’s very fast and intuitive. You’re not running through the door without information.”¹¹

There are numerous ways to analyze and use GPS and other geographical data. In over 30 years of operation, iMapData, in McLean, Virginia, earned a reputation for leveraging massive amounts of data from traditional and social media and a host of other sources for comprehensive threat identification and assessment.

In late December 2015, iMapData merged with PlanetRisk, a Maryland data analytics solutions provider. Despite this change, Barbara Moroney, director of marketing and client relations for the company, said the commitment to public safety will remain the same and could even improve.¹²

Analysis of the data can increase an agency’s effectiveness and officer safety. “You can see things in real time,” said Bill Rick, PlanetRisk’s vice president of commercial sales for security solutions. “You have a greater awareness of what is happening. You are taking your resources and focusing them for the best results.”¹³

Of course, traditional-style mapping and navigation also is still a key GPS service. GST created its mapping solution with law enforcement in mind. “GST offers multiple mapping options for agencies to choose whichever is the best and most cost-effective mapping option,” Santos said. These options can include “agency-provided GIS data and other GST-provided map sources with a turn-by-turn audible navigation module to ensure that officers can quickly locate a call and route to it in the fastest possible way.”¹⁴

With GPS now firmly established, GIS an exploding field of interest, and social media firmly established on the societal landscape, the ability to extrapolate useful information from these new sources promises to gain importance.

“Data is data,” said Graham of LexisNexis. “It’s what you do with it that counts.”¹⁵

Notes:
¹Travis Martinez (lieutenant, Redlands Police Department), telephone interview, February 10, 2016.
²Ibid.
³Ibid.
⁴Ibid.
⁵Gary Santos (account manager, Geospatial Technologies), email interview, February 5, 2016.
⁶Rick Graham (LE business development manager, LexisNexis Risk Solutions), telephone interview, February 11, 2016.
⁷Ibid.
⁸Ibid.
⁹John South (CEO, Patrocinium), telephone interview, February 10, 2016.
¹⁰Ibid.
¹¹Ibid.
¹²Barbara Moroney (director, marketing and client relations, PlanetRisk), telephone interview, February 4, 2016.
¹³Bill Rick (vice president, commercial sales for security solutions, PlanetRisk), telephone interview, February 4, 2016.
¹⁴Santos, email interview, February 5, 2016.
¹⁵Graham, telephone interview, February 11, 2016.

Please cite as

Scott Harris, “GPS: Far More Than Driving Directions,” Product Feature, The Police Chief 83 (May 2016): 48–49.

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