Map software pinpoints crime
By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer
Honolulu police have a computerized crime-fighting tool that is helping them track criminals and predict where they might strike next.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
The Geographic Information System mapping program gives police a detailed picture of O'ahu's crime trends. Authorities say its increased use has helped them reduce theft, car break-ins and burglaries.
Honolulu police officer Leland Cadoy shows the mapping program that processes information from dozens of sources. An update has renewed interest in its uses.
Dozens of officers enter information into the program, which digests reports from thousands of crimes and spits out detailed color maps that show the times and day, and in some cases descriptions of suspects, wanted vehicles and the suspects' method of operation.
Using the easy-to-use maps, commanders can deploy officers to high-crime areas to deter crooks and even catch them in the act.
"All these things can be used to help the officer in the field to determine where crimes might occur, and hopefully put them in the area to deter crimes from happening," said Lt. Harold Scoggins, who oversees the program. "The potential to use it to assist in crime-fighting is unlimited."
About three years ago, the program helped police catch a man charged with breaking into cars in the university area and stealing property, Scoggins said. Armed with the crime map, officers from the Crime Reduction Unit and Criminal Investigation Division staked out the theft area and arrested a man on suspicion of breaking into cars. He eventually was charged with six thefts, Scoggins said.
Several police districts have adopted the program, including Waikiki, which has developed new uses for it, drawing maps of evacuation plans, homeless populations and large-scale celebrations.
The program was purchased by HPD with a $50,000 grant five years ago. It saw minimal use at first because officers were skeptical about the technology. A few officers recently rejuvenated the program, developed by a Redlands, Calif., company called ESRI.
Officers from District 2 (Wahiawa/North Shore) have used the program to track property crimes at beaches. District 7 (East Honolulu) officers have used it to follow liquor store burglaries.
In the Wahiawa/North Shore district, the program has been credited for helping cut property crime from 4,311 reported offenses in 2000 to 3,714 in 2001.
Officer Andrew Bonifacio, who works in that district, said officers use the program to track burglaries, robberies, car break-ins, auto thefts, auto theft recoveries and property damage. Together with initiatives such as a beach task force, the program helped decrease reported thefts from vehicles by 42 percent from 2000 to 2001 in District 2, HPD records show.
"Our major has commented that GIS is a major reason why last year we had very low property crimes," Bonifacio said. "Our plain clothes officers use it a lot."
In East Honolulu, the program is being used to keep tabs on a series of burglaries at liquor stores and golf shops, said Lt. Ray Struss Jr. "I'm using the GIS to track which way the series is going, and to keep track of car break-ins at the scenic points and lookouts," Struss said. "It's an aid to officers who are out there trying to catch the guy."
Officer Leland Cadoy, the department's 2002 Police Officer of the Year, said he and officer Bill Vinton had rejuvenated the program by making it more user-friendly. It now takes about an hour to learn, Cadoy said.
He said the program was perfect for tracking property crimes, and Waikiki police have used it to monitor car break-ins at parking lots at the Honolulu Zoo and hotels.
"Why stretch yourself thin all over the district trying to find somebody, when you know they keep hitting the same place?" Cadoy said. "A good portion of crime is done by the same people. Why not target the place he likes to feed? You go where he goes the most. That's what this program allows us to do."
The only drawback is that officers must input the data by hand, Cadoy said. But they won't have to do that once police reports become computerized, in the near future.
Police envision the program allowing them eventually to map three-dimensional building layouts for hostage or standoff situations, provide instant street mapping for officers on the road, monitor streets where severe accidents
occur, track juvenile crime trends and even follow suspects who escape police by running through underground drainage systems.
"How far you go with this program is how far your imagination can take you," Scoggins said.
"Basically, anyone can use it."
Reach Brandon Masuoka at 535-8110 or bmasuoka@honoluluadvertiser.com.
