Roger Williams University developing new crime data analytics lab

BRISTOL – Roger Williams University’s Justice System Training & Research Institute is currently developing a crime data analytics lab that will help train law enforcement personnel on how to collect and analyze arrest and incident data, channeling it into evidence-based policy that is responsive to communities.

The university said the lab is being established via a $30,303 Champlain Foundation grant. Once the lab is established, RWU will offer various courses from crime mapping to traffic safety analysis, and utilize the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Incident Based Reporting System, the university said.

RWU said that per a survey from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, Rhode Island’s law enforcement agencies currently reported that only 11 police departments used computer crime analysis, with only seven specifically having used crime-mapping applications.

David Lambert, RWU School of Justice Studies dean and director of the Justice System Training & Research Institute, said in a statement that one of the challenges to implementing data-driven policies and strategies for law enforcement is a lack of technological skills in the current and future justice workforce.

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“Analytical tools provide a degree of transparency and accountability because you can show the community what the issues are and where the most problematic areas are located,” Lambert said. “Police agencies can work smarter, and point to evidence-based information to confirm why they need to spend more resources in certain neighborhoods. This approach to policing can bring the criminal justice systems out of the intuition-based ‘we think we know where the problems are’ type of thinking.”

Courses at the new lab will begin being offered in June, RWU said.

James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.