GIS has changed how law enforcement fights crime. Investigators now rely on actionable intelligence for mapping and analyzing crime patterns. Senior Cpl. DJ Beaty of the Dallas Police Department knew that none of his department’s officers had GIS degrees or training and decided he wanted to be the first to do so.
As a neighborhood police officer, Senior Cpl. Beaty got involved with various neighborhoods’ crime watch programs. Many citizens wanted to see crime statistics on a map so they could get an idea of patterns and trends of criminal activity in their geographic areas.
Senior Cpl. Beaty, police GIS and geospatial analyst for the Dallas Police Department, said, “It was obvious that we needed an ability to be able to map crime data and present maps to community members. My skills as a neighborhood police officer and my time in covert operations translated well to the field of GIS.” (more…)