Laconia PD to look closer at crime statistics

It was under Tom Oettinger, the predecessor to Chief Mike Moyer, that the police department implemented a contemporary philosophy of law enforcement called "problem-oriented policing." The change in outlook meant that the department's officers tried to be less reactive and more proactive in addressing crime in the city.

This year, the department is taking another step in the proactive direction by main-streaming the analysis of local crime statistics. The hope is that the department will be able to identify patterns and anticipate a crime before it is committed.

Problem-oriented policing, explained Lieutenant Chris Adams, is taking a wider view of police work than simply patrolling streets and responding to calls for service.

Police often find themselves responding to the same types of problems in the same neighborhoods. With problem-oriented policing, the department addresses the perpetrators of the specific crime but also looks for the underlying conditions that result in a particular type of criminal behavior. Adams said the philosophy asks, "Why are we going to this neighborhood again and again?" For example, a poorly-lit section of street might make it attractive to drug sales. Locking an apartment lobby could eliminate the occurrence of vandalism or loitering.

Of course, not every problem can be fixed by a light bulb or a door lock. For example, why has the city had 113 reported assaults so far this year, while there were only 62 assaults reported by this time in 2009? Adams said he puzzles over questions such as this.

"I've always been interested in statistical information," said Adams.

He has a professional interest as well, since his job calls for him to fill out grant applications, which often require a detailed breakdown of the city's crime rates. With such an interest, it's no wonder he's intrigued by the opportunity presented by www.crimereports.com, a website that the department uploads its crime reports to. The site, free to use and accessible to the general public, then displays the information in various ways. Visitors to the site can see where certain types of crimes have been committed over a defined time frame. The site also has analytical tools that show types of crime as a percentage of overall crime, or show the crimes as a line graph over a time period.

Adams has been following the department's statistics for a few years and thinks the data could help inform the deployment of resources. For example, if the data shows a trend of thefts from vehicles in a certain area at a certain time of day, Adams said the department might deploy a patrol of plain clothed officers to "be there when it's going to happen."

Toward that end, the department will be forming an ad-hoc team of officers — a couple of sergeants and some patrol officers — who will review the department's data. Adams said he hopes to make a presentation once a week at regular roll call meetings to discuss the trends and seek explanations for them and, ultimately, for an action the department can take to affect an overall reduction in crime.

"I think we'll start seeing some results," said Adams.