Richmond Police Department (Virginia)

The Richmond Police Department (RPD) recognize that citizen involvement is the cornerstone of community policing. They dedicate ourselves to becoming part of the community, by way of improved communication and access, mutual setting of goals and priorities, and shared commitment to the crime prevention responsibility.

Solve Problems The Richmond Police Department seek to improve the quality of life for all residents of the city of Richmond through a proactive team approach to timely, innovative intervention in community problems. They are the catalyst for positive social change through persistent, personalized, and cost-effective application of public safety resources. They recognize and value the diverse and unique contributions made by both citizen and employee alike to the common goal of excellence in public safety.

The Richmond Police Department currently have about 750 sworn officers and about 130 civilians. The sworn officers patrol the streets, investigate crimes, and help problem-solve with the community. Civilians serve in a variety of functions from forensics technicians to crime analysts to crime prevention specialists.

(reference: http://www.ci.richmond.va.us/departments/police/)

Crime Prediction
Beginning in 2006, a new system was launched in a phased implementation that provides predictive crime analysis, data mining, reporting and GIS capabilities to the RPD based on the idea that criminal behavior often follows identifiable patterns that can be used to predict criminal acts. By collecting yesterday's crime statistics and external factors - weather, time, day, moon phase, etc. - officers can estimate when and where tomorrow's crimes will occur using business intelligence (BI) capabilities.

Officers receive the most current information available, including predictions of crime hot spots they can access before a shift. Data from the records-management system is integrated and analyzed continuously.

The RPD's innovative enterprise platform produced dramatic results. By moving from a "reactive crisis management structure" to a "proactive problem deference model," the department lowered the city's ranking from fifth most dangerous U.S. city in 2004 to 15th most dangerous city in 2005, and a 21 percent reduction in major crimes from 2005 to 2006. The department also won Gartner's 2007 BI Excellence Award.

"We're replicating the intuitive nature of the seasoned veteran cops - the guys who have been on the force for 25 years and know certain sections of the city really well and operate almost out of complete intuition - who know more than a crime map might show them," said Stephen Hollifield, information services manager of the RPD. "Our application attempts to do the same thing, but provides that type of intuitive picture about areas and gives them to our ‘green officers' who have been on the force for only two years and haven't developed that sense yet. This kind of speeds up the process and gives pictures based on all the crimes in the past, weather, times of day, day of week and moon phases."

(source: http://www.govtech.com/gt/575229?topic=117680)

Contact Information
200 W. Grace St. Richmond VA 23220 Phone: (804) 646-6842