The document discusses how data-driven solutions can help law enforcement build partnerships with communities through engagement and crisis management. It outlines challenges such as ensuring solutions are not perceived as intrusive and building community trust. Key steps are to identify how solutions align with tactics and community needs, develop communication plans to inform and elicit input, and implement feedback loops to monitor effectiveness. The success of the Boston Police Department in using social media to engage residents and counter misinformation during the Boston Marathon bombing is provided as an example.

1. Peelian Principles in a
Data-Driven World:
How data-driven solutions can help law
enforcement drive community engagement,
and manage crisis.

2. Introduction
Nearly two hundred years after his death the father of modern policing, Sir Robert Peel, fills this need. Just as
we used his principles to define our mission and strategies, we can use them to adopt data-driven solutions in
a way that builds partnerships. We used his seventh principle as a guide for our analysis of the opportunities
and challenges these solutions present.
Our analysis identified the challenges in building partnerships with the use of data-driven solutions. To do so
you must develop an ability to: identify the directionality of each solution, build and recognize community
trust, develop a proficiency in aligning data-driven solutions to your tactics and to the community.
The planning phase is not just solution identification and time lines. Remember, perception is reality, so a
communication plan that informs and elicits input is vital. Then long-term success is ensured with two steps. A
feedback loop that monitors data effectiveness and use, while a performance management systems keeps the
chosen solutions aligned with the departments goals and delivering on tactics. This white paper presents our
theories, analysis, and the steps to ensure your adoption of data-driven solutions drive community
engagement and help you manage your next crisis.
Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the
historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police
being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which
are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.
“
”
Seventh Peelian Principle
The good news is that after last year’s 22-year record low, America’s confidence in the police has edged up a
bit. (Newport, 2016) The bad news, support is cyclical and unfortunately the next crisis will cause confidence to
dip again.
All crises affect our relationship with the communities we serve, even a slow drip non-acute crisis can create a
groundswell. We see this as we move into the era of data-driven policing, because some people think these
solutions will usher in the era of Big Brother. They see them as intrusive and overreaching, and straining what
is already an uneasy relationship.
Our challenge, how do we inform communities that data-driven solutions are a tool to increase the
personalization of policing for their members? It will take some heavy lifting, but we use the solutions
themselves to show communities they bring us together. All we need is a guide on how to be viewed as a
partner, and not big brother.

3. The strategic goal of technology adoption
was identified in The RAND Corporation’s,
The Visions of Law Enforcement Technology
in the Period 2024-2034. “SAFE STREETS,” is
the position law enforcement will occupy
when it effectively adopts technology while
maintaining society’s backing.
RAND developed a matrix to illustrate
desirable and undesirable positions. The axis
represents the drives-technology adoption,
and societal support. Technology adoption
must keep pace with criminal adoption, and
allow law enforcement to fulfill its mission.
But, it must be in balance with, and keep law
enforcement in sync with society so that it
can maintain its support.
THE STRATEGIC GOAL
RAND states that any path to SAFE STREETS will contain ebbs in flow because law enforcement must gauge
and readjust its tactics since technology and society will constantly evolve. Along with identifying a strategic
goal, the report also identifies less desirable positions. The four quadrants of the matrix and their
characteristics are:
The Visions of Law Enforcement Technology in the Period 2024-2034 is a ground-breaking report because it lays
out the landscape associated with law enforcement’s technology adoption. Peelian Principles in a Data-Driven
World aligns this strategic goal with tactical execution. (Silberglitt, et al., 2014)
Mean
Streets
Criminal’
Advantage
Technology Axis
Effective use in
performing
future missions
Ineffective use
in performing
future missions
Law enforcement
opposed (out of synch)
SocietyAxis
2
0
1
4
Communications
Training
Partnerships
Law enforcement
supported (in synch)
(Silberglitt, et al., 2014)
Tough
Love
Safe
Streets
SAFE STREETS (Northeast) - the most desirable position, where police effectively use technology to increase
public safety and share information in a non-intrusive manner so that law enforcement is supported.
TOUGH LOVE (Northwest) - here police effectively use technology, but in an intrusive manner which leads to
society’s distrust, resulting in non-support for law enforcement.
CRIMINALS ADVANTAGE - (Southeast)- this position represents law enforcement not utilizing technology
well, however it is in sync with and supported by society.
MEAN STREETS (Southwest) - here law enforcement is ineffective in its use of technology, and is out of sync
and unsupported by society.

4. “Technology strategies must balance inward and outward facing solutions that inform, and elicit community input
while offering tangible results that improve the everyday lives of community members.”
Is your current technology tactical or operational? Every police department needs CAD, RMS, mobile data
terminals, computers, and modern forms of defensive tools, because these essential tools improve
operational efficiency. Operational efficiency is driven by inward facing tools, while outward facing solutions
drive community engagement, and managing crisis.
INWARD VERSUS OUTWARD FACING SOLUTIONS
Perception is reality when it comes to a community’s view of its police department’s use of technology.
Available solutions may not align a police department with the community it serves. Balance is the key.
In a neighborhood where a high volume of calls for service make it difficult for officers to interact with
community, officers may be seen as a necessary evil. Take this a step further. What if the neighborhood officer
is observed parked in a cruiser equipped with a license plate reader while he, or she, types on a mobile
terminal, and then every so often stops a car to issue a citation?
Or, a police department identifies a gunshot using gunshot detection technology, and subsequently uses city
cameras to identify a suspect. With this information, they pull officers unfamiliar with the neighborhood and
its residents in to assist with searches. Although necessary, this is a highly volatile and dangerous situation for
the officers and community.
The biggest problem is that when the data-driven solutions in these examples are used as standalone
solutions, they will be viewed as intrusive. Therefore, technology strategies must balance inward and outward
facing solutions that inform an elicit community input while offering tangible results that improve the
everyday lives of community members.
ANALYSIS & PLANNING

5. “The best indicator of community trust is the presence of vibrant information sharing that enables the community to
become an extension of your police department.”
Outward facing data-driven solutions are tactical tools to help us connect with community members, and give
them input into matters that affect their quality of life. These solutions can help build trust, but to get the full
potential from any of these solutions we must look at them from the perspective of a community member.
DATA-DRIVEN SOLUTIONS AS TACTICAL TOOLS
Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the
historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police
being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which
are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence
“
”
Seventh Peelian Principle
The best indicator of community trust is the presence of vibrant information sharing that enables the
community to become an extension of your department. With greater transparency and engagement, the
community can see officers as an extension of the community, and officers can begin to see themselves as
community members, vested in its success.
Therefore, analysis of outward facing data-driven
solutions should focus on platforms and methods
that better enable us to leverage data externally,
and help the community share information
comfortably and easily with the police. The building
of trust through back and forth information sharing
helps us prepare for the next crisis.
The Philadelphia Police Department turned what
could be viewed as an inward facing solution, into
an outward facing one that allowed the community to increase the quality of life for its members. The PPD used
analysis from a hot spot identifier to inform the community of areas susceptible to burglaries. With an informed
community, burglaries dropped by 39% in the targeted sector. (Richey, 2014) The Philadelphia Police
Department could have put cops on dots, or took a hard look at suspects which would have risked alienating the
community at large, instead it educated and enlisted help. This is a perfect example of how a data driven
solution drove community engagement and helped manage a crisis.

6. “Community members may see the mission of reducing the fear of crime as something intangible, but with
data-driven solutions we can inform them of the conditions that invite crime so they become partners in the
reduction of both crime and its fear.”
In economically depressed communities it is especially important for us to balance and align data- driven
solutions with community needs. These communities pay a high price for, “The fear of crime,” because it drives
down economic value with reduced earnings, results in declining property values, and negatively impacts
community members’ upward mobility.
ALIGNING THE SOLUTION AND COMMUNITY NEEDS
The cost of the fear of crime was identified in Hidden in Plain Sight, What Cost of Crime Research Can Tell Us
About Investing in The Police. This RAND report identified the tangible and intangible cost of crime, where most
of the intangible cost is the result of the fear of crime. It is interesting that the report stated that only 35% of the
costs of all crimes are tangible and directly tied to the crime, while 64% are intangible and indirect cost such as
lost productivity and quality of life measures. Rape at 94% has the highest intangible cost. (Heaton, 2010)
Community members may see the mission of reducing the fear of crime as something intangible, but, as with
the Philadelphia example, we can inform them about the conditions that invite crime so they become partners
in the reduction of both crime and its fear. We can also use outward facing tools such as social media platforms
to gather information and engage the community in dialogue. This will keep us informed and build trust with the
community so that we can enlist their help when the next crisis arises.
Trust is what cements the police’s relationship with community’, and
consistency is the key in building it. It is not just consistency of use
with data-driven solutions, it’s also consistency of balancing inward
and outward facing solutions, and consistency of alignment with the
community and its needs.
ALIGNING THE SOLUTION AND COMMUNITY NEEDS
Trust gives the community courage to share information that benefits
us. Two of the many crucial benefits are, it increases department
effectiveness by fueling analytical and predictive tools, and it provides
information to complete reports that will ultimately help close open
cases.

7. “Consistently utilizing data-driven solutions to drive community engagement will increase the community’s desire to
help law enforcement in times of crisis. The Boston Police Department’s data-driven strategy paid off when it needed
the community’s help the most.”
A great example of effective use of outward facing technology
is the Boston Police Department, and it’s use of social media
to stop the spread of false information and widen the search
for the Boston Marathon bombing suspects.
This effort did not start after the bombings, it began when
then Commissioner Edward Davis oversaw the development
of a strategy to extend community policing efforts onto social
media platforms by utilizing Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest,
and YouTube.
BOSTON POLICE DEPARTMENT EXTENDS COMMUNITY POLICING EFFORTS
The BPD created its official Twitter account in 2009. Like all other police departments, it initially used Twitter to
share general information with the city. Over time, efforts became more personalized with initiatives such as “,
Tweets from the Beat,” which began in 2011. With Tweets from the Beats ranking officers from across the city
created their own Twitter accounts and provided residents localized information about their neighborhood.
The social media strategy was successful in growing the BPD’s social media followers, prior to the 2013 Boston
Marathon it had 40,000 Twitter followers.
These efforts paid off with the terrorist attack on the 117th running of the Boston Marathon. Immediately
following the bombings Commissioner Davis ordered his media relations department to keep the public
informed using all social media channels. Then two days into the search for the suspects CNN mistakenly
reported the suspects had been caught. This report was magnified when the Associated Press joined CNN in
tweeting the original report which led to 5,000 retweets. BPD responded with a single tweet that no arrest had
been made. Then BPD’s social media followers showed the power of its strategy by retweeting the post close
to 11,00 times.
Had the Boston Police not effectively engaged the community with the use of Twitter, and other social media
platforms, the CNN report could have been very damaging. This false report and the subsequent postings may
have slowed down public reporting, and might have helped the suspects elude authorities. But, two years of
active engagement with city neighborhoods demonstrated the BPD’s commitment to being a part of the
community, and drove the community to respond when most needed (Davis III, Alves , & Sklansky, 2014).

8. “A good technology strategy complements the department’s strategy, its goal is to improve and complement tactical
initiatives, and any data-driven solution used should communicate its value to the community.”
We have already identified the strategic goal, learned how to use the seventh Peelian Principle as guide, and
analyzed techniques to evaluate effective use of data-driven solutions. Now we can apply this knowledge to
develop and execute technology strategies that align data-driven solutions with our mission and strategy.
DEVELOPING & EXECUTING TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY
`
A good technology strategy complements the department’s strategy, its goal is to improve and complement
tactical initiatives. These six steps create the technology strategy by articulating:
Information inventory - provides a summary of the various department processes, functions, data entities,
and informational needs of the department. This inventory will define both current and expected future
information requirements.
Mission and objectives of technology - include a primary role and goals of the technology within the
department.
Constraints and influences of technology deployment - describes limitations of the technology and how it
may influence an officer’s decisions. This is important because all technology should complement the
officers’ intuitions and field work, not replace it.
Short-term plan - of technology implementation
Long-term plan - identifies applications that allow for overall system growth and easy solutions adoption.
Risk Management - evaluates the technology strategy and plans to identify likely but not certain events that
may affect either
To avoid data-driven solutions being viewed as intrusive we should look at their tactical applications, and how
they communicate their value to the community. Otherwise, the community will not cooperate with their use,
and it will move the department into Mean Streets.
IDENTIFY REQUIREMENTS AND OUTPUT

9. CREATE A COMMUNICATION PLAN
“It is a mistake to limit input on technology decisions to executive level leadership. Two-way communication with all
levels of the department, and community is critical.”
A great communication strategy lays the groundwork for successful technology adoption. The technology
strategy must have:
Committed executive level involvement- Technology supports management and tactics. So, the technology
strategy must parallel the departmental strategy, and be accepted by department leadership.
Community communication strategy- The adoption of technology must not be viewed as intrusive, especially
since the success of many of the elements will depend upon community input. It must also communicate
value through its alignment with the improvement of departmental tactics that engage and inform the
community.
A structured decision making process- All issues should be escalated in a consistent manner. This will
demonstrate that the technology and personnel are in place to support all solutions and their users.
An effective model for department wide communication- It is a mistake to limit input on technology
decisions to executive leadership. Two-way communication with all levels of the department, and
community is critical.
Tactical level alignment and communication- Every technology solution should be utilized by the entire
department in a manner which aligns with the user’s responsibility level, the communication must be two
way since front line officers will provide the data to fuels the technology, and they will be the first to see
where improvements are needed.
The communication strategy is not something you begin and end once the technology strategy has been
executed, “and data-driven solutions are in place. This plan will continue to evolve just as the data-driven
solutions and their applications will.

10. DEVELOP A FEEDBACK PLAN
“The community and officer interaction provides the fuel for data-driven solutions to refine strategy. This refines
tactics and identifies more effective uses of resources to produce better results and data output, to again optimize
the system.”
A formal feedback loop ensures continuous improvement of any applied data-driven solutions. It is especially
essential for police departments since the one constant we all deal with is changing conditions. A feedback
loop for data-driven solutions produce data which allow the department to:
Set Priorities- by completing the data cycle, police departments can prioritize actions that will improve
community engagement, or whatever metric they are measuring.
Identify data discrepancies- It will also identify discrepancies in input data, and that can be used to address
operational issues with those efforts which produce the input data.
Improve performance- by analyzing the data output you can identify what inputs have the greatest impact
on the desired outcome.
Identify which budget items are cost effective- knowing what training, partnership development, or staffing
needs effect data-driven solutions most is step toward improvement.
The diagram above illustrates how the flow of data improves the department’s execution. The community and
officer interaction provides the fuel for data-driven solutions to refine strategy, which in turn refines tactics to
identify more effective uses so resources produce better results and data output, to again optimize the
system.

11. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
When implementing a performance management system, remember the adage- “What you measure is what you get!”
Just because the data is easy to gather does not mean it should be included. Make sure your key performance
indicators align the solution with tactic, and your department’s strategy and mission.
A performance measurement is different than the feedback loop system because it focuses on tactics that the
data-driven solution was implemented for. A good perforce management system will match goals with key
performance indicators to identify how, and why the department is, or not, reaching its goals, along with ways
it can improve performance.
In the table above the goals of the adopted data-driven solution is in the left-hand column. The middle
columns contain the key perforce indicators of each goal, these are the items needed to achieve the
associated goals. Measurements of the key performance indicators are in the right-hand column. These
numbers are especially important in crisis management because they show your strengths and what you can
priorities, or build upon quickly when needed.
This example does not contain an exhaustive list. Any measurement system should address areas of concern,
but be careful not to include too many measures or they will diminish the importance of those you look to
most. In addition to a more well-rounded list, other categories should be addressed for example: training,
technology, data, and operations.
When implementing a performance management system, remember the adage,” What you measure is what
you get!” Just because the data is easy to gather does not mean it should be included. Make sure your key
performance indicators align the solutions with tactics, and your department strategy and mission.
Community Engagement
KPIGoal Measurement
Reports SharedIncreased Information Exchange Queried reports
Investigative Intelligence Tips Provided
Social Media ExchangeSocial Media Sharing Number of Active Followers
Retweets, or repost
Effective Dialogue Number of responses
Effect on InvestigationsCommunity Trust Increase in closed cases
-Increased Information Exchange Queried reports- Number of named sources
- Business Hours

12. The data-driven world is here to stay! We need to embrace it because data-driven solutions hold promise in
helping us achieve our mission. How do we shape data-driven policing for success now, and into the future?
The answer is not too difficult. In the true nature of the Peelian Principles we adopt data-driven solutions with
an eye towards trust. Each police department’s relationship with the community it serves is its most valuable
asset, especially in times of crisis. We demonstrate and gain trust through our actions and the alignment of
chosen solutions.
Every neighborhood has its own unique makeup and challenges, and obtaining its trust is a tailored exercise.
Data-driven solutions provide us with the ability to create tailored approaches to individual neighborhoods,
because we can create precision with the most relevant data. This will go a long way in shifting the talk from
big brother to personalized policing.
How can data-driven solutions better connect your department with the community it serves? What kind of
tactical advantages can your department achieve with the use of data-driven solutions? How might they
benefit your department, your officers, and community members? The approaches offered in this white paper
can help you assess your local situation. Also, raising the topic of data-driven solutions with department
personnel, and municipal and community leaders can yield useful insight into options and approaches to
consider; as well as, create agreement for practical applications in the adoption of data-driven solutions.
CONCLUSION
The R Simmons Group leverages 100+ years of combined
experience from data scientists, sociologists, technologists, and
police officers to drive tangible outcomes by.
For information contact Rufus@TheRsimmonsGroup.com

13. Davis III, E. F., Alves , A. A., & Sklansky, D. A. (2014). Social Media and Police Leadership: Lessons From Boston.
Cambridge MA.: Harvard Kennedy School Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Mangement & National
Institute of Justice.
Heaton, P. (2010). Hidden in Plain Sight, What Cost-of-Crime Research Can Tell Us About Investing in Police.
Santa Monica, CA: The RAND Corporation.
Newport, F. U.S. Confidence in Police Recovers From Last Year's Low. Source: Gallup, (2016, Dec. 10) (2016,
June 14).http://www.gallup.com/poll/192701/confidence-police-recovers-last-year-low.aspx.
Richey, E. How Data Analysis Helps Police Departments Fight Crime. Forbes,(11 Nov. 2016) (2014, June
3).http://www.forbes.com/sites/emc/2014/06/03/data-analysis-helps-police-departments-fight-crime/#2bad32
c243e8.
Silberglitt, R., Chow, B. G., Hollywood, J. S., Woods, D., Zaydman, M., & Jackson, B. A. (2014). Visions of Law
Enforcement Technology in The Period 2024-2034. Santa Monica, Calif.: The RAND Corporation.
References