To look deeper at problems in different areas of Akron, the city plans to use a new technique piloted by Kent State University researchers.
Officers will drive through neighborhoods with a video camera mounted on a cruiser. They then will dictate information about the neighborhood, noting a vacant property or a known drug house, for example. The city then will overlap these “geo-narratives” with more traditional crime data to gain a better understanding of what’s happening.
“What is on a report or a call for service can only take in so much,” said Malinda Sampsell, who is with the Police Department’s Planning and Research Unit. “This will get to the information officers know day in and day out.”
Sampsell on Monday explained the project to Akron City Council, which voted to accept a state grant that will pay much of the cost of the cameras and overtime for officers to use them. Akron received $18,000 from the Ohio Department of Public Safety; the city will provide another $6,000 for the program.
Sampsell said Akron police officers assisted Kent State researchers with testing the technology, and the researchers now will train officers in how to use it. She said the videos and narratives will be geo-coded with coordinates, showing, for example, where a drug house is located on a street. She said this information will be compared with crime data to “see if there is a relationship.”
“This can create layers to show a more robust picture,” she said.
The data that officers collect will be used to make better-informed decisions in the department, such as where to deploy officers for “hot-spot” overtime efforts, Sampsell said.
Officers also will be looking for community members willing to do ride-alongs and provide their insights on neighborhoods for the project. Sampsell said officers will be coordinating with council members to find volunteers.
The Police Department is recruiting officers willing to help with the effort and who have descriptive abilities. The effort is expected to start this spring or summer.
©2015 the Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio)
