1. U.S. Department of Justice RT
ME
NT OF J
US
PA
TI
CE
DE
Office of Justice Programs
BJ A C E
G OVC
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OF F
RA
IJ
N
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O F OJJ D P B RO
National Institute of Justice J US T I C E P
National Institute of Justice
P r o g r a m F o c u s
The Chicago Police
Department’s Information
Collection for Automated
Mapping (ICAM) Program

2. PROGRAM FOCUS
The Chicago Police Department’s
Information Collection for Automated
Mapping (ICAM) Program
by Thomas F. Rich
T o better understand the nature and extent of
criminal and social problems in the community and
improve allocation of resources, a growing number of
computerized mapping to be a valu-
able tool that had not yet reached its
full potential.1 Because mapping soft-
ware has a unique ability to overlay
disparate data sets (e.g., citizen
crime control and prevention organizations are turning complaints; police incident data; the
to computerized mapping. A recent National Institute locations of specific sites, such as
of Justice (NIJ) study reported that officials found abandoned buildings or liquor stores;
Highlights
Computerized mapping is emerging as an User Friendly potentially contributing to significant re-
effective tool to help police departments ductions in motor vehicle theft and saving
track criminal activity in neighborhoods. ICAM’s unique easy-to-use design can be millions of dollars for the insurance
Combined with a technique known as traced to the mandate of the ICAM co- industry.
geocoding (which verifies addresses and project coordinator, Deputy Superinten-
links other geographic information with dent Charles Ramsey, who said the map- Planned Enhancements
them), computer mapping software can ping system should be “so user-friendly,
even I can make a map.” The system ICAM currently is not fully accessible to
combine data sets to provide a multidi- the public because no program exists to
mensional view of crime and its potential designers also factored in the needs of
officers. A CPD detective and an officer block out confidential information, such
contributing factors. as the names and addresses of victims. A
spent several weeks at a precinct station
Although many large police departments finding out what officers wanted from the modified version of ICAM is being devel-
are using this technology, the Chicago computerized mapping system. oped that will allow the public to generate
Police Department (CPD) has put together maps and lists of crimes in their neighbor-
one of the most accessible and easy-to-use Using a series of clicks made with a com- hoods without divulging confidential data.
programs in the Nation. Since its imple- puter mouse, ICAM can produce a map of
reported offenses of a particular type in a ICAM is currently limited in its ability to
mentation in May 1995, the Information aid crime analysis. For example, an officer
Collection for Automated Mapping specified area, or it can produce a chart of
the 10 most frequently reported offenses cannot generate a map of calls for service
(ICAM) program has been praised by the or arrests. Major revisions, being made
city’s police officials, beat officers, and in an area. A keyboard is not required for
the ICAM system. under an initiative known as ICAM 2, will
the public. address these and other issues. For ex-
Because the mapping program was cre- The computer hardware and software for ample, the enhanced system will be able to
ated in conjunction with the Department’s ICAM were developed with a $1 million map reported offenses within specified
community policing program, the maps grant from the Illinois Motor Vehicle Theft distances of a location (e.g., within 1,000
have been an effective way to work with Prevention Council. The council under- feet of a school) and track changes in
residents on addressing problems in their stood that computer mapping could per- crime over time. In addition, a new citywide
neighborhoods. The maps are expected to mit geographic analysis of the relation- 911 emergency network will allow offic-
become regular features of neighborhood ship between the locations of a car’s theft ers to access the data bases of districts
beat meetings with police officers. and its subsequent recovery—thus, throughout the city.
2 National Institute of Justice

3. PROGRAM FOCUS
and census data), computerized maps be incurred when the data are trans- these files may have missing or un-
can provide a multidimensional over- ferred to the mapping system. named streets or incorrect address
view of crime and its potential contrib- ranges.
uting factors. s Procedures are required to ensure
that addresses of data to be mapped The Chicago Police Department
Computerized mapping is particularly are accurate (e.g., street names are (CPD) has overcome these obstacles
useful for police departments with spelled correctly). Ideally, an address and put together a mapping system—
computer-aided dispatch and records would be verified whenever it is en- Information Collection for Auto-
management systems, which store tered into a computer system. How- mated Mapping (ICAM)—that can
and maintain calls for service, as ever, it may be necessary, first, to be used by police officers throughout
well as incident, arrest, and other develop an accurate base map; police the agency. While a growing number
data that are potentially mappable. departments may want to undertake of law enforcement agencies have
These systems typically have a geo- the time-consuming, albeit one-time, highly sophisticated mapping systems
coding feature that verifies addresses task of editing computerized street (see “Mapping Systems in Other Po-
and associates them with other geo- files of their jurisdictions. The street lice Departments”), it appears that
graphic information, including police files can be obtained from the U.S. only CPD has a system that enables
reporting areas, beats, and districts. Bureau of the Census or commercial officers with little or no special train-
geographic data vendors, but even ing to create and quickly retrieve
Before implementing computerized
mapping systems, however, police
departments are faced with a number
of issues: Mapping Systems in Other Police
s The costs of the necessary hard- Departments
ware and software can be substantial.
Numerous police departments around the Corporation to develop a custom software
s Commercially available mapping country use mapping software, in most application that allows users to generate
software is more complicated and cases, to support crime analysis activities. maps of reported offenses meeting speci-
The Dallas and Los Angeles Police De- fied criteria. The options for querying the
harder to learn than word processing
partments are among the more active users data base of reported offenses are exten-
or spreadsheet software and often of this technology. sive—a user can specify crime types, date
requires special multiday training and time ranges, modus operandi, points
courses. This limits the accessibility Dallas. The Dallas Police Department has
of entry/exit, property descriptions,
of the mapping software and often developed what might be called a “text-
weapon descriptions, suspect descriptions,
makes police departments dependent only” version of ICAM. Located at each
vehicle descriptions, victim descriptions,
police substation, a “walk-up-and-use”
on a small number of specially trained and narrative key phrases. The applica-
system produces a list of reported offenses
persons. tion is installed at all 18 area stations,
that meet specified criteria. Once a list is
where it is used by the area crime analyst.
generated, the user can export it to a gen-
s The data to be mapped must be eral purpose mapping software package
The analyst uses the application to pro-
available on an ongoing basis to en- duce crime alert bulletins, “in-custody”
(the Department uses MapInfo) that can be
sure that maps are timely and up-to- bulletins, and “wanted” bulletins. The ap-
used to map the list of offenses. A “hand-
date. Unless the mapping system can plication is also used to enhance cases, to
ful” of officers in the Department—and
respond to officers’ requests for crime
use electronic data that already exist at least one civilian at each substation—
maps, and to generate crime maps for area
in the department’s computer-aided know how to use MapInfo.2
biweekly tactical planning meetings.3
dispatch or records management sys- Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Police
tems, substantial data entry costs will Department contracted with MapInfo
Program Focus 3

4. PROGRAM FOCUS
their own maps of crime and commu- a minimum of 1 year to a single beat ICAM’s Relationship
nity conditions and share them with within his or her district.5 Beat officers
the community. This Program Focus are instructed to focus on problem
to CAPS
discusses ICAM in terms of its devel- solving, and dispatch procedures have In 1995, officers in all of Chicago’s
opment and implementation; current been changed to limit the time they 25 police districts began using ICAM
features, usage, and impact; planned spend responding to calls for service to better understand the problems in
enhancements; and implications for outside their assigned beats.6 Beat their assigned areas and to develop
other police departments. officers are also required to attend strategies to address them. The offi-
regularly scheduled “beat meetings” cers also began to share ICAM maps
The Context for with community residents. with residents, improving police-
community relations and giving citi-
ICAM: Community The evaluation of CAPS, partially zens a chance to help police cut down
Policing funded by NIJ, has focused on the on crime by providing data for joint
program’s implementation in the five police-community problem-solving
ICAM was developed as part of CPD’s prototype districts.7 The 1995 report efforts. Developing ICAM was thus
far-reaching and ambitious community stated: an integral part of Chicago’s commu-
policing strategy. Unlike many other
nity policing approach.
community policing programs that are [Many] prototype district residents
limited to a single unit in the depart- detected positive changes in polic- The superintendent’s strategic
ment, the Chicago Alternative Policing ing during its first year of opera- vision for ICAM. The importance of
Strategy (CAPS) is departmentwide. tion, and residents of most of the using and sharing information through
The strategic plan for reinventing CPD prototypes thought the police had technology was a key element in the
describes CAPS as a “wholesale trans- grown more responsive to com- superintendent’s 1993 plan for imple-
formation of the department, from a munity concerns. There was also menting CAPS:
largely centralized, incident-driven, evidence that the program led to a
crime suppression agency to a more significant decline in crime-related The Department must continue to
decentralized, customer-driven organi- problems in three prototypes, drug seek out and apply new technolo-
zation dedicated to solving problems, and gang decline in two districts, gies, as it has done in the past with
preventing crime, and improving the and significant decreases in levels AFIS, Live-Scan, and other sys-
quality of life in each of Chicago’s of physical decay in two areas. tems. New technologies must go
neighborhoods.”4 In fact, CAPS is Many of the changes in percep- beyond finding better ways to
really a city program with strong sup- tions of crime problems in the detect offenders and respond to
port from the Mayor’s office and close prototype areas were mirrored crimes: they must provide the
involvement of city agencies, which by declines in officially reported information and analytical capa-
have been directed to give top priority crime and survey measures of bilities that help police officers
to “CAPS service requests” that affect victimization.8 and the community identify and
crime and neighborhood safety. solve problems and, therefore,
Wesley Skogan, director of the evalua- prevent crimes.
CAPS was launched in April 1993 tion effort, called the results of CAPS
in 5 prototype police districts; it has “among the most substantial I’ve Information is power. To support
since been adopted in all of the city’s seen” compared to other community our new, decentralized approach
25 districts. CAPS revolves around policing programs in the country.9 to decisionmaking, the Depart-
the beat officer, who is assigned for ment must establish a new, decen-
tralized approach to data collec-
tion and analysis as well. Systems
4 National Institute of Justice

5. PROGRAM FOCUS
should be put in place to give collaborations between researchers data, including the location of rapid-
officers the information they and CPD had demonstrated both the transit stops, schools, youth organiza-
need, when and where they need feasibility and utility of such an ap- tions, public housing facilities, parks,
it. Where appropriate, these sys- proach. The first effort in 1988, an liquor stores, and demographic data.15
tems should also provide com- NIJ-funded project, involved CPD, These maps could depict not only
munity members with up-to-date the Chicago Alliance for Neighbor- “hot spots” and other locations where
statistical information to help hood Safety (CANS)—an umbrella crimes were committed but also an
them in identifying and targeting organization that trains community array of associated and possibly con-
problems.10 residents in problem solving)—and tributing factors.
researchers at the University of Illinois
The superintendent also emphasized at Chicago and Northwestern Univer- To build on these previous efforts,
the importance of accessibility as a sity in creating a rudimentary map- in 1993 Officer Lewin and Detective
feature of any new information sys- based crime analysis system in one Soltysiak first spent several weeks
tem: “In many cases, computers will CPD district. In their report, the re- in the 11th District (Area 4) inter-
need to be moved out of the back searchers stated that the system had an viewing beat officers and detectives
room, where they have served as impact in a number of areas, including: and testing various formats to deter-
specialized tools, and into the opera- mine the presentation and type of in-
tional levels of our organization, [In] combining data from different formation that would be most useful to
where they can become more flexible sources, in providing an institu- officers and detectives. The consensus
and far-reaching tools of the police.”11 tional memory of a beat, in pro- was that maps—“simple, clear, and
viding detectives with the ability easy-to-read”—would be the most use-
Development to search for patterns more readily, ful format to display crime information.
in permitting proactive manage-
of ICAM ment by the district commander, Obtaining funding. However, one
and in improving community re- obstacle to developing the computer-
Using the superintendent’s strategic
lations between the police and ized mapping system was cost. For
vision as a guide, Officer Jonathan
community organizations.12 a comprehensive system to be put in
Lewin (24th District) and Detective
place, money was needed to pay for
Larry Soltysiak (Area 4 Division) took
Warren Friedman, executive director the hardware and software at all 25
on the challenge of developing a sys-
of CANS, believes that initiation of police districts and specialized CPD
tem that would provide useful infor-
the ICAM project was a particularly units at the area level, which included
mation directly to the beat officer. At
significant step toward obtaining a work station for running ICAM, a
the time, beat officers relied on hand-
CPD acknowledgment of the impor- server for network maintenance and
written offense reports to determine
tance of working with community support, and a laser printer.
the level of criminal activity in their
organizations.13
assignment areas, which took days to CPD applied for and received a $1
analyze in any detail. Computerized Later, in 1991, researchers at the million award from the Illinois Motor
incident data were kept on CPD’s Illinois Criminal Justice Information Vehicle Theft Prevention Council
mainframe, but the system was ac- Authority and police officials in (IMVTPC) to buy the necessary equip-
cessible only to trained computer CPD’s Area 4 teamed up to implement ment. IMVTPC, created in 1991 by
operators. a map-based system for studying street the insurance industry, envisioned
gang crime.14 The study helped iden- computerized mapping as an effective
CPD’s prior experience with map-
tify those areas with the highest risk of tool for auto theft investigators be-
ping. Developing ICAM was not
gang-related violence. This effort was cause it would allow a geographic
CPD’s first attempt to implement
notable because it combined police analysis of the relationship between
computerized mapping. Two earlier
data with a wide variety of community the location of a car theft and the
Program Focus 5

6. PROGRAM FOCUS
location of the car’s recovery. Then in summer 1994 CPD Deputy number of ways, each of which re-
IMVTPC supports a variety of vehi- Superintendent and CAPS Co-Project quires a few additional mouse clicks.
cle theft prevention programs; for Director (then Deputy Chief) Charles As shown in exhibit 1, page 8, the user
example, they provided funds for Ramsey made an unannounced visit can change the default query param-
mobile data terminals for CPD patrol to the 24th District. Ramsey issued a eters by specifying one or more sec-
cars in 1992, which enabled patrol challenge to the development team: ondary classifications of the primary
officers to query State and national Implement a system “that is so user- offense, changing the desired geo-
stolen vehicle files. friendly even I can make a map.”18 graphic area, changing the date and
The team focused its efforts on devel- time range, or specifying a particular
If computerized mapping could re- oping a system that, in terms of ease type of location.
duce the number of auto thefts in of use, more closely resembles an
Chicago—where two-thirds of the automated teller machine (ATM) than The ability to map offenses meeting
State’s auto thefts occur—IMVTPC standard office automation software. these criteria is a standard feature of
believed it could save the insurance In addition to changing ICAM’s hard- any map-based crime analysis system.
industry millions of dollars each year. ware and software platforms,19 the What is unique about ICAM is the
IMVTPC made the award even with team decided that ICAM would not way in which the user formulates the
the understanding that the mapping require use of a keyboard (in fact, query. By default, ICAM maps of-
system would cover all crimes, not ICAM PC’s do not even have key- fenses occurring in the past 10 days.
just those related to automobiles.16 boards). Instead, all user selections However, any date and time range can
and commands would be issued with be selected (e.g., the past 2 days or
From prototype to implementation. a mouse. midnight to 8 a.m. during the past
With funding secured, Lewin and month). The simplicity of the method
Soltysiak, then joined by Gene Chin, In October 1994, an ICAM prototype for selecting a date and time range
a senior systems analyst in CPD’s was set up in the 24th District. By illustrates the efforts made by the
Data Systems Division, began devel- May 1995, ICAM was installed in all ICAM development team to ensure
oping the mapping system. But after 25 districts. ICAM’s accessibility to officers.
attending a workshop on using com- Since keyboards are not attached to
puterized mapping for crime analysis ICAM PC’s, the traditional way of
at the Illinois Criminal Justice Infor-
ICAM Features
specifying a date and time range—
mation Authority in August 1993, the When the ICAM computer is turned typing in the starting and ending dates
team realized that although many po- on, the main screen automatically and times—could not be used. Instead,
lice departments had sophisticated appears (see “ICAM’s Query a calendar screen is displayed (see
crime mapping systems, no depart- Screens”). The two main tasks that “ICAM’s Query Screens”), and the
ment had a system that was accessible ICAM performs are indicated in the user simply clicks on the desired
to beat officers.17 Thus, the team had boxes containing the “Do It!” buttons: month, day, and year for both the
to create a unique prototype. In late ICAM can produce a map of reported start and end dates. There is a similar
summer 1993, the development team offenses of a particular type in an area, screen for selecting the time range.
set up its first model in CPD’s 24th or it can generate a list of the 10 most
District. The results were disappoint- frequently reported offenses in a beat. After the user clicks “Do It!,” ICAM
ing. Beat officers found the system runs the query against the offense
too complicated to use, and the 10 to ICAM allows a user to generate a map data file and displays on the screen
15 minutes required to generate a map in as few as three mouse clicks. A both a map and a tabular view of the
was considered unacceptable. simple query can be modified in a offenses meeting the specified criteria
6 National Institute of Justice

7. PROGRAM FOCUS
(see “ICAM’s Information Screens”). icon, with all the different icons being and formulating another query. A list
The map displays the specified geo- shown in a map legend window. of the ten most frequently reported
graphic area (e.g., district, sector, or offenses in a beat in the past 10
beat), the streets in this geographic At this point, the user has several op- days—the “Top Ten” feature of
area, the names of major streets, and tions (see exhibit 2, page 10), includ- ICAM—can be obtained with just
icons showing the location of each ing printing the map or tabular view of three mouse clicks. The default time
offense meeting the specified criteria. the data, displaying community data, period of 10 days can be changed by
If secondary offenses have been re- performing other geographic analyses, accessing the date and time selection
quested, each type will have a different or returning to the ICAM Main Screen screens.
ICAM’s Query Screens
From the ICAM Main Screen, the user can select
the default setting to map the locations of all
reported robberies occurring in the past 10 days
in a district; the user simply has to: TO MAKE MAP:
1. Click on the primary offense scroll button to
display the list of primary offenses.
DO IT!
2. From the list of primary offenses, click on
“robbery.”
3. Click on the button labeled “Do It!”
TOP TEN
The user could choose to pose a different query
to obtain a list of the most frequently reported DO IT!
offenses in a beat; in this instance,
the user would:
1. Click on the “pick beat” scroll 8 20 95 8 30 95
button to display the list of beats
in the district.
2. From the list of beats, click on
the desired beat.
3. Click on the button labeled
“Do It!”
If the user wants to specify a differ-
ent time and date range from the
10-day default period for the query,
he or she moves to the following
calendar screen and clicks on the
time period desired.
Program Focus 7

8. PROGRAM FOCUS
Exhibit 1
ICAM’s Mapping Features: Query Components
Component Options
Primary Offense Only one primary offense can be selected per map.
cost of entering the data. Fortunately,
Secondary Offense For the selected primary offense, up to 10 secondary ICAM was able to “piggyback” onto
classifications can be selected. For example, if robbery
existing data-entry procedures in the
is the primary offense and the secondary offenses are
“with a knife” and “with a gun,” then only robberies districts to minimize costs. Data-entry
with a knife or a gun are mapped. procedures are standardized. At 6 a.m.
in each district, offense reports written
Geographic Area The choices are the entire district, one sector, or one during the previous 24 hours are en-
beat. The default selection is the entire district.
tered in a PC-based data base pack-
Date Range Both a start and end date are selected. The default age—a practice instituted long before
selection is the past 10 days. ICAM for the purpose of producing
Time of Day Range Both a start and end time are selected. For example, if
district “24-hour” reports. To enhance
the user is only interested in offenses occurring during the data consistency, the user selects
the day shift, 800 to 1600 would be selected. The values from predefined lists rather
default selection is all day. than simply typing in values. For
example, if the offense is a burglary,
Type of Location The type of location includes those categories listed
on the CPD General Offense case report—examples the user selects “burglary” from the
include on a bus, in an apartment, at a business, and at list of offenses rather than typing in
a church. If “in an apartment” is selected, then only the word “burglary.” Once these data
offenses occurring in apartments would be mapped. are entered, the data-entry clerk fol-
The default selection is all types of locations.
lows a three-step procedure: (1) ex-
ecuting a “geocode” routine on the
data, during which the latitude and
longitude of the location of each of-
ICAM as contact persons to provide assis-
fense are computed; (2) executing a
tance to district personnel. Thus, the
Implementation development team adopted a “train
“copy” routine that extracts the of-
and Training fense data and writes it to a diskette;
the trainers” approach to ICAM
and (3) executing a “load” routine that
instruction.
An official unveiling ceremony ac- copies the new offense data from the
companied installation of ICAM at The development team also wrote an diskette to ICAM. These procedures
each of the city’s 25 districts as the ICAM users’ guide and prepared a ensure that ICAM data are, at most,
development team introduced the one-page “Quick Map” instruction 24 hours old.
system to district police officials sheet, which was posted next to the
and residents during the period from The importance of the geocode step in
ICAM PC’s in each district station.
October 1994 to May 1995. Although this process should be emphasized. As
The ICAM PC’s were placed in a
ICAM was designed for easy accessi- noted earlier, some addresses stored in
common area (e.g., behind the district
bility, training in its use was still police files may be initially unmappa-
desk), rather than being locked in an
needed by police officers at the district ble because the underlying street maps
office, to make them accessible to
stations. The ICAM development team are incomplete or inaccurate. A team
police personnel around the clock.
produced an 8-minute instructional of researchers from Loyola University
video to be played during roll call at Quality of data. The availability of in Chicago encountered this problem
all district stations. Detective Soltysiak timely and accurate data is key to in 1991 when they attempted to map
also spent 2 days at each district sta- ICAM’s effective use. One of the the location of homicides in Chicago
tion demonstrating ICAM to officers potential obstacles that police depart- using the U.S. Bureau of the Census
and training district administrative ments face in implementing computer- computerized street files (i.e., TIGER
managers, who would then serve ized mapping systems is the added files). The researchers found missing
8 National Institute of Justice

9. PROGRAM FOCUS
ICAM’s Information Screens
A query on criminal damage to vehicles would result in a map and tabular data.
streets near the boundary of the city,
unnamed and misnamed streets, and
incorrect or missing address ranges.
They corrected these problems and
added important landmarks to the
TIGER files.20
The researchers provided these im-
proved files to the ICAM develop-
ment team, who refined them even
further. About 95 percent of the of-
fenses entered at the district stations
are geocoded automatically by the
computer.21
Use and Impact
of ICAM
ICAM has fulfilled two of the key
requirements for successfully imple-
menting CAPS; it has provided:
A query on the top ten offenses in one beat does not generate a map but, instead,
s Police officers with an automated produces a simple list and graph.
tool for analyzing timely and accurate
crime information.
s An effective and convenient
mechanism for sharing information
with the community.
Support for ICAM. As a result,
ICAM has earned enthusiastic support
from high-ranking city and CPD offi-
cials. Mayor Daley, who attended 10
of the 25 district unveiling ceremonies
for ICAM, has said, “ICAM is the best
thing to come from the police depart-
ment in years.”22 CPD Superintendent
Matt Rodriguez has pointed to ICAM
as the epitome of decentralized deci-
sionmaking: “[ICAM] goes a long
way to making the officer the chief of
police of his beat.”23 CAPS Co-Project
Directors Barbara McDonald and
Charles Ramsey have seen ICAM
Program Focus 9

10. PROGRAM FOCUS
Exhibit 2
ICAM Mapping Features: Options Once the Query is Run
Option Comment
Panning and Zooming The section of the map shown on the screen can be moved in any direction (panning), or the
distance across the displayed section of the map can be changed (zooming).
View Details of Offenses A tabular view of the data is produced (see “ICAM’s Information Screens”). The data elements
include: address, house or apartment number, case report number, crime code, primary offense
classification, secondary offense classification, whether the offense is a Part 1 index crime, date,
beat, start and end times, location code, type of location, number arrested, four analysis fields
used to flag special offenses (e.g., domestic violence, gang-related offenses), offender description
or name, vehicle make, vehicle model, vehicle year, and the beat in which the vehicle was taken.
Print Map The map can be printed. A disclaimer is shown at the bottom of the printout indicating that the
classification of the offense is based only on the facts known at the time the offense was reported
(see exhibit 3). Printed maps can be shared with the community.
Print Tabular View The tabular view of the data can be printed. However, because the offense information available
of Data in ICAM is unverified, printed tabular views of the data are not shared with the community.
Add Vacant Buildings The locations of vacant buildings can be added to the map.
to the Map
Add Schools to the Map The locations of schools can be added to the map.
Add Establishments with The locations of establishments with liquor licenses can be added to the map.
Liquor Licenses to the Map
Add “EL” Stops to the The locations of Chicago Transit Authority elevated (EL) railway stops can be added to the map.
Map
Radius Select A list of all offenses within a specified distance from a specified location on the map can be
generated (e.g., all offenses within 1,000 feet of a school) and displayed in a table.
Area Select A list of all offenses within a specified beat within the sector or district can be generated and
displayed in a table.
as critical to the success of CAPS. percent use it rarely, if ever. One mea- in police departments is for crime
ICAM, Ramsey said, has been “a sure of ICAM use—the number of analysis. Crime analysts use mapping
linchpin of the whole strategy.”24 queries run at each district (a query software to prepare crime alert bulle-
results in either a map or a “Top Ten” tins and other reports. Because of
Of equal importance has been the re- list)—can be tracked. From June 26, ICAM’s simplicity, all CPD officers
action at the district stations. Although 1995, to July 25, 1995, a total of 6,689 have access to analytic tools that are
no formal survey of officers has been queries were run citywide—an aver- unavailable to police officers in other
taken, in general, they have praised age of 223 queries per day citywide, departments. No determinations can
the simplicity of the system and said or 9 queries per day in each district. be made of the number of crimes
it helps them in performing their jobs. Even more revealing is the increasing ICAM has helped to resolve, but anec-
use of the system over time. The num- dotes of ICAM’s effectiveness as a
Data on ICAM usage. The actual ber of queries in the period’s fourth crime-solving tool for CPD are plenti-
number of CPD officers who are using week was 34 percent higher than in ful (see “ICAM in Action”).
ICAM is not known. The development the first week.
team estimated that 20 percent of all ICAM also helps beat officers to make
officers use ICAM regularly, 60 per- Crime analysis. In general, the most decisions about their work plans. Of-
cent use ICAM occasionally, and 20 common use of computerized mapping ficer Valeria Mac, a beat officer in the
10 National Institute of Justice

11. PROGRAM FOCUS
Photo by Jonathan Cohon
24th District, said she regularly uses
ICAM as an aid in deciding where to
concentrate her foot patrol activities.
When Mac returns to her beat after
a few days off, she prints out ICAM
maps so she can see where crimes
were committed.
Beat meetings. Since the success of
CAPS depends on police-community
partnerships, beat meetings are a pri-
mary mechanism for soliciting com-
munity involvement. These meetings,
which occur regularly in each of
CPD’s 279 beats, are intended to be
“the forums in which officers and
residents jointly develop plans for Members of the ICAM development team check out the program.
tackling neighborhood problems.”25
The cornerstone to developing strate- routinely distributes ICAM maps at whether the problems are recurring.26
gies that address neighborhood prob- beat meetings, has noted, “everybody Warren Friedman, of CANS, a long-
lems is the availability of timely and likes the maps.” In one beat, commu- time advocate of police-community
accurate information on their nature nity residents had already been pro- partnerships, is pleased that CPD now
and extent. ICAM is helping to fulfill ducing hand-drawn maps, so they routinely shares information with the
this information need as officers rou- were especially appreciative of ICAM. community. ICAM “helps to facilitate
tinely bring maps to meetings and In many beats, community residents discussions with the police depart-
distribute them to residents (see ex- call Officer Mullen prior to the meet- ment,” Friedman says. But he cautions
hibit 3). However, the tabular view ings and request that she bring certain that it is too early to tell if the tech-
of the data, available to officers using maps, particularly those depicting nique will help residents develop more
ICAM, is not made public because it offenses that residents find most effective and appropriate strategies to
is not fully verified (i.e., ICAM con- problematic. combat neighborhood problems.27
tains information recorded on the ini-
tial offense report that has not yet In many districts, ICAM is relatively Court Advocacy project. ICAM is
been validated by detectives or other new, so the impact of ICAM-produced important to another component of
followup investigators). In addition, maps among residents is still un- community involvement in CAPS—
exact street addresses of the offenses known. Also unknown is the extent to the Court Advocacy project. Court
are excluded to prevent identification which residents are using ICAM to Advocacy units exist in every police
of victims. However, the maps allow develop new strategies for improving district. Their purpose is to “identify
residents to see the approximate loca- their neighborhoods. A recent CANS crime problems within their police
tions where offenses occurred and publication encouraged residents at- districts—especially those...which
provide an overall understanding of tending beat meetings to take advan- negatively impact upon quality of
crime in the area. tage of the maps to prioritize life—and to follow those cases in
neighborhood problems, develop and court in order to actively participate
One neighborhood relations officer in plan a strategy for addressing prob- in and have an effect on the criminal
the 24th District, Athena Mullen, who lems, and, later, use ICAM to assess justice process. The intended out-
Program Focus 11

12. PROGRAM FOCUS
ICAM in Action
Anecdotes of how ICAM has been used to and residents were able to recover their s Tactical officers in the 24th District
help solve crimes include the following: stolen property, which had been stored in received a complaint from residents that
the home of one teenager. drugs were being sold at a particular street
s In March 1995, three officers in the
corner. Using ICAM to check crime con-
10th District caught three teenagers in the s In the 22nd District, officers learned of
ditions at that corner, the officers found
act of burglarizing a home.28 The sur- a rash of burglaries occurring at schools
there had been numerous prostitution ar-
rounding area recently had experienced a and used ICAM to map the exact locations
rests, but no drug activity. Further check-
rash of burglaries, and the officers sus- of these burglaries and determine patterns
ing revealed that one particular female—
pected that the teenagers were responsible about the times they were occurring. Of-
who matched the description provided by
for many of them. The teenagers con- ficers then established surveillance at the
residents—had been arrested several times
fessed to committing several of the bur- appropriate times and locations and soon
at this corner. In this case, ICAM revealed
glaries, but they could not remember the arrested a burglar as he was fleeing a
the true nature of a suspected problem in
addresses of the homes. Back at the district school.
a neighborhood.
station, the officers used ICAM to gener-
s In the 3rd District, residents at a beat
ate a map and a list of all burglaries occur- s In the 7th District, an ICAM map
ring in the past 6 months in the general meeting complained about an increase in
showed that the locations of recovered
vicinity of where the teenagers were oper- criminal activity. Using ICAM, officers
stolen vehicles were clustered around spe-
ating. With the map and list as a guide, spotted an area in the beat that had experi-
cific abandoned buildings. Armed with
the officers then drove the teenagers to enced an increase in burglaries and robber-
this information, police officials worked
specific homes to determine which ones ies. Tactical officers set up surveillance
with the city’s Department of Planning to
they had burglarized. With just a few and arrested three offenders for armed
expedite demolition of the buildings.
hours’ work, 11 burglaries were cleared, robbery.
comes...include: encouraging police/ Current ICAM limitations. Although CPD plans to expand usage and train-
citizen participation in fighting crime ICAM represents a major improve- ing while making major revisions to
[thus] sending a strong message to ment in information delivery systems the system.
judges, prosecutors and others in the for CPD, its capabilities are still lim-
criminal justice system that the com- ited. Reported offenses are the only Future ICAM
munity is involved and watching.”29 police data that can be mapped—data
on calls for service and arrests are not Enhancements
Eileen Donnersberger, manager of the included in the system. Moreover, the A new CPD directive being imple-
Court Advocacy project, sees ICAM offense classification is based only on mented in 1996 requires beat officers
as “a useful tool for deciding what the facts known at the time the offense to bring ICAM maps to monthly beat
types of cases to follow.”30 For ex- was reported. If, after further investi- meetings. ICAM is also being in-
ample, an ICAM map might show a gation, the classification changes, a cluded in the CPD training academy
series of prostitution offenses occur- modification would not be reflected in curriculum, so that candidates will be
ring at a particular intersection; track- ICAM. In addition, only one offense instructed on its use. Other enhance-
ing these cases through the criminal can be mapped at a time; a map show- ments planned for ICAM will make
justice system might be an effective ing the locations of burglaries and it more accessible to the public and
strategy for addressing the prostitution drug offenses, for example, cannot be to the CPD command staff.
problem at that site. Use of ICAM in generated. Finally, district personnel
Court Advocacy units is still new, but can map offenses occurring only ICAM 2. The overhaul of ICAM be-
Donnersberger sees ICAM as having within their district. A host of reasons gan in September 1995 with a new
“tremendous potential.” While the account for these limitations, including system dubbed ICAM 2. As CAPS
advocacy units currently rely on CPD time and resource constraints and the Co-Project Director Barbara
to provide them with ICAM maps, requirement that the system be as McDonald explained:
they will soon have direct access to simple as possible to use. Recognizing
the system. ICAM’s successes and limitations,
12 National Institute of Justice

13. PROGRAM FOCUS
Exhibit 3
Burglary Offenses in Sector 2 (39*) at Residences
W. Juneway Ter.
N. E
N. Damen Ave.
a
stlak
The current version of ICAM has
eTer.
fulfilled its original purpose and
N. C
W. Howard St.
has achieved national exposure as
lark
N. Ridge Ave.
an innovative, cutting-edge law
|
| | | |
St.
|
enforcement application. It contin-
|
|
ues to assist in the day-to-day
|
W. Jarvis Ave.
|
| | | | | | | | | |
problem-solving activities of po-
|
W. Jarvis Ave. Touhy
|
lice officers and members of the
|
Park W. Chase
|
community and is a critical com-
|
|
ponent of the CAPS model, pro- W. Touhy Ave.
| | | | | | |
viding useful information directly ve
. Loyola
sA W. Estes Ave. Park
to the hands of users. However, g er
Ro W. Greenleaf Ave.
we now propose a complete over- N.
N. Wolcott Ave.
haul of the ICAM system. When
| | | | | | | |
W. Lunt Ave.
N. Ravenswood Ave.
complete, the new system will be
N. Sheridan Rd.
N. Glenwood Ave.
N. Ashland Ave.
N. Paulina St.
known as ICAM 2. It will become W. Morse Ave.
more powerful, more flexible,
more useful, and more innovative
than the current version, yet [it]
will become even easier to use.31 W. Pratt Ave.
33
Burglary Crimes
00:00 08/01/95-23:59 08/29/95
Superintendent Rodriguez subsequent-
Forcible Entry (27)
ly approved the ICAM 2 development Unlawful Entry No Force (8)
plan. ICAM 2 made its debut in May Attempt Forcible Entry (4)
1996 in the 3rd and 12th Districts,
and citywide installation should be *This data reflects initial case classification based on facts known at the time the incident was
completed by October 1996.32 Key reported. It may be revised at a later time.
enhancements include:
s Increased public access to kiosks in the city, which provide (via a not have access to the Internet at their
ICAM. Because ICAM terminals touch screen) information on city ser- home or office can access the CAPS
are located in secured parts of each vices and the CAPS program. A proto- Web page at the city’s public libraries.
district station and certain information type touch-screen version of ICAM
available in ICAM cannot be revealed was recently demonstrated in the 19th s Increased police access to ICAM.
to the community (e.g., the address District, and an 85-year-old resident ICAM was initially designed as a tool
where the offense occurred), the sys- (who had never before used a com- for beat officers. Under ICAM 2, of-
tem is not directly accessible to the puter) generated a crime map of her ficers and detectives assigned to gang,
public. A modified version of ICAM, neighborhood in less than 1 minute. narcotics, and youth units also will
one with certain features disabled and have access to the maps. A modified
some data elements blocked out, is In addition, a modified version of version of ICAM—the Command
being developed to be made available ICAM will be available on the Internet Information System—will be devel-
through two new and innovative ways. via the World Wide Web. Chicago oped for the CPD’s command staff to
One is through public information currently has a “Web page” that is a support police planning at the sector,
kiosks. Chicago currently has 50 such comprehensive source of information district, area, and citywide levels.
on CAPS.34 Chicago residents who do
Program Focus 13

14. PROGRAM FOCUS
s Analysis capabilities. of the ICAM approach are clear, par-
ICAM 2 will vastly improve ticularly for departments implement-
the system’s analytical capa- ing community policing. Since com-
bilities. It will allow officials munity policing depends on individual
to perform temporal analyses officers taking the initiative to solve
(e.g., track changes in the problems and having residents become
level of crime over time in active partners in this effort, access
different geographic areas), to timely and accurate information is
exhibit families of offenses essential. While developing an ICAM
on a single map (e.g., crimes system costs more than an “analyst-
against persons or crimes only” system,37 members of CPD,
against property), map of- from the Superintendent to beat offi-
fenses occurring within a cers, strongly urge other departments
specified distance of a speci- to consider developing a system that
fied location (e.g., produce a gives officers this direct access.
map of drug offenses occur-
ring within 1,000 feet of a
Photo by Jonathan Cohon
Notes
particular school), and map
1
“hot spots” of criminal activ- Rich, Thomas F. 1995. The Use of Com-
puterized Mapping in Crime Control and
ity.36 The challenge for the
Prevention Programs. Research in Action.
ICAM development team Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice.
will be to provide these new NCJ 155182.
features while preserving
2
the system’s user-friendly Personal interview with Sergeant Mark
At public kiosks, Chicago citizens can learn about city Stallo, Dallas Police Department, in October
services; soon they will be able to obtain ICAM maps. nature. 1995.
3
ICAM will eventually be installed on Implications for Other Personal interview with Officer Angelo
Morton, Los Angeles Police Department, in
laptop computers in CPD patrol cars.
Police Departments October 1995.
s Access to more information. Police departments considering a com- 4
Rodriguez, Matt L. 1993. Together We Can.
The initial version of ICAM allowed puterized mapping system have two Chicago: Chicago Police Department, p. 13.
officers to access only offenses in their broad design options: employing 5
The CPD divides the city into five areas;
particular district and a limited set of trained analysts to produce maps for areas are divided into districts; districts are
nonpolice data. But the implementation officers or developing a system similar divided into sectors; and sectors are divided
of a new citywide 911 emergency com- to ICAM. In the first scenario, trained into beats. There are 279 beats in the city. The
munications system and fiber optic net- analysts use commercially available size of beats ranges from 0.31 to 2.54 square
work will link all police facilities and miles, with the average size being 0.82 square
mapping software to either produce a miles. Eight to nine officers are assigned to
many city agencies, allowing ICAM 2 to set of prespecified maps on a periodic each beat, with one or two on duty at any
access citywide information from sev- basis or respond to ad hoc requests by given time.
eral data bases, including calls for ser- officers for maps. 6
vice and arrests.35 Offense data in ICAM Responsibility for responding to calls for
2 also will be more accurate, including service within a beat is shared between rapid
The second option allows officers to
response units and beat officers. Rapid
updated information on offense classi- produce their own maps. The benefits response units patrol and respond to calls
fication and case status. for service throughout a sector.
14 National Institute of Justice

15. PROGRAM FOCUS
7 17 28
The two reports are: Chicago Community This conclusion is consistent with the This story was featured on Chicago Crime-
Policing Evaluation Consortium. 1994. findings of a recent NIJ assessment of Watch ‘95, the CPD’s cable television program
Community Policing in Chicago, Year One: computerized mapping in crime control and (Karl Productions, Show No. 25, May 1995).
An Interim Report. Chicago: Illinois Criminal prevention programs. See Rich, 1995.
29
Justice Information Authority; and Chicago Chicago Community Policing Evaluation
18
Community Policing Evaluation Consortium. Personal interview with Deputy Superinten- Consortium. 1995, p. 75.
1995. Community Policing in Chicago, Year dent Charles H. Ramsey in August 1995.
30
Two: An Interim Report. Chicago: Illinois Personal interview with Eileen Donners-
19
Criminal Justice Information Authority. The development team decided to change berger in September 1995.
the hardware platform from Sun Unix work
31
8
Chicago Community Policing Evaluation stations to PC’s running Microsoft Windows. July 27, 1995, memorandum from CAPS
Consortium. 1995, p. 79. This improved both the speed and ease of Co-Project Director Barbara McDonald to
use of the system. Microsoft Visual Basic, Superintendent Matt Rodriguez.
9
Criminal Justice Newsletter. 1995. MapInfo for Windows, and MapBasic for
32
Community Policing in Chicago Gets High Windows were used to develop ICAM. Many of the key enhancements are being
Marks From Evaluators. Washington, DC: funded with a grant from the Justice Depart-
Pace Publications. Volume 26, Number 16. 20
Block, Richard. 1993. “Geocoding of ment’s Community Oriented Policing Services
August 15, 1995. Crime Incidents Using the 1990 TIGER File: (COPS) office.
The Chicago Example” in Proceedings of
33
10
Rodriguez, 1993, p. 17. the Workshop on Crime Analysis through The icons do not necessarily equal the
Computer Mapping. Chicago: Illinois number of incidents because more than one
11
Rodriguez, 1993, p. 25. Criminal Justice Information Authority. incident occurred at the same address.
34
12
Maltz, Michael D., Gordon, Andrew C., 21
For ICAM and most other mapping applica- Chicago’s Web page can be accessed by
and Friedman, Warren. 1989. Mapping Crime tions, geocoding is a two-phase process. pointing a Web browser to
in Its Community Setting: A Study in Event During the “automated” phase, the mapping http://www.ci.chi.il.us.
Geography. Washington, DC: National software attempts to assign geographic 35
Institute of Justice, p. vi. coordinates (e.g., latitude and longitude) to In light of CAPS, including calls for service
as many addresses as possible. Next, during in ICAM is particularly important, since calls
13
Personal interview with Warren Friedman in the “manual” phase, the user examines those for service often more closely reflect citizen
August 1995. addresses not geocoded during the automated concerns regarding fear and disorder than
phase one-by-one and attempts to geocode as reported offenses.
14
Block, Carolyn Rebecca, and Richard many as possible. With ICAM, 95 percent of 36
Block. 1993. Street Gang Crime in Chicago. offenses are geocoded during the automated ICAM 2 will eventually integrate a software
Research in Brief. Washington, DC: National phase. After the manual phase, virtually all package called STAC, developed by research-
Institute of Justice. NCJ 144782. the offenses are geocoded. ers at the Illinois Criminal Justice Information
Authority, which locates clusters of criminal
15
From this effort, the researchers developed 22
July 27, 1995, memorandum from CAPS activity in an area.
a handbook that describes the data that could Co-Project Director Barbara McDonald to 37
be included in a geographic data base or a CPD Superintendent Matt Rodriguez. The ICAM development team had to write
geoarchive. See Block, Carolyn Rebecca, and software to allow officers to formulate a query
Lynn A. Green, The Geoarchive Handbook: A 23
Personal interview with Superintendent Matt and to manipulate the generated maps. The
Guide for Developing a Geographic Database Rodriguez in August 1995. development team recommends that other
as an Information Foundation for Community police departments allow four person-months
Policing. Chicago: Illinois Criminal Justice 24
Personal interview with Deputy Superinten- of time for this software development, assum-
Information Authority, August 1994. dent Charles Ramsey in August 1995. ing the police department has or can gain
access to skilled programmers. Development
16
Personal interview with Gerard Ramker 25
Chicago Community Policing Evaluation of ICAM required expertise in Visual Basic
and Mark Mattozzi of the Illinois Motor Consortium. 1995, p. 26. (Microsoft Corporation), MapInfo for
Vehicle Theft Prevention Council. IMVTPC Windows (MapInfo Corporation), and Map-
26
believed that if the 50,000 annual auto thefts Hennelly, John. 1995. “You Can ICAM” in Basic for Windows (MapInfo Corporation).
in Chicago could be reduced by 10 percent, Neighborhoods. Chicago: Chicago Alliance This time estimate does not include time to
a $24 million savings could be realized for Neighborhood Safety. Summer 1995. develop systems requirements or to test and
(assuming a $4,800 insurance industry cost install the system.
27
per stolen vehicle). Personal interview with Warren Friedman
in August 1995.
Program Focus 15

16. On the Cover: Using the ICAM sys-
About This Study tem, a police officer generates a map
of crime offenses in his district. (Photo
This Program Focus was written by Interviews were also conducted with by Jonathan Cohon)
Thomas F. Rich, an associate in the law Warren Friedman, executive director,
and public policy area of Abt Associ- Chicago Alliance for Neighborhood This report was supported by Research Ap-
ates Inc. Interviews for this article were Safety; Richard Block, Loyola Univer- plications contract #OJP–94–C–007 from
conducted with the following members the National Institute of Justice to Abt Asso-
sity of Chicago; Carolyn Block, Illinois
ciates Inc. Points of view and opinions in this
of the Chicago Police Department: Criminal Justice Information Authority; document are those of the authors and do not
Jill DuBois, Chicago Community Polic- necessarily reflect the official position or
Matt Rodriguez, superintendent; ing Evaluation Consortium; Eileen policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Charles Ramsey, deputy superintendent; Donnersberger, project manager, Court
Barbara McDonald, director, research Advocacy Project, City of Chicago;
and development; Officer Jonathan Sergeant Mark Stallo, Dallas Police The National Institute of Justice is a compo-
Lewin; Detective Larry Soltysiak; Gene Department; Officer Angelo Morton, nent of the Office of Justice Programs, which
Chin, senior systems analyst; and the Los Angeles Police Department; and the also includes the Bureau of Justice Assis-
following staff from the 24th District— following staff from the Illinois Motor tance, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of
Commander Thomas Byrne, Officer Vehicle Theft Prevention Council— Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Preven-
Valeria Mac, Officer Athena Mullen, Gerard Ramker and Mark Mattozzi. tion, and the Office for Victims of Crime.
and Officer Jerry Martin.
NCJ 160764 July 1996
U.S. Department of Justice
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Office of Justice Programs POSTAGE & FEES PAID
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