CAPS researchers will evaluate the development and implementation of
the Chicago Police Department’s Project CLEAR (Citizen and Law Enforcement
Analysis and Reporting), the most extensive and state-of-the-art computerized
information system to be installed into any major city’s police department.
They hope to evaluate the impact of the program on police, citizens, and
the CPD organization through future funding. Project CLEAR will use new technology to promote proactive community/business
involvement, improve police management, and foster the integration of
other criminal justice agencies. CLEAR attributes include predictive resource
allocation to deploy officers when and where they are needed, an unprecedented
information system for management analysis and officer accountability,
shared problem-solving information for community policing partners, “prepackaged”
information to support decision making of all members, and information
integration to manage offender flow through the criminal justice system. “They’re trying to increase problem solving and they’re
also trying to increase the integrity of elements such as police reports
and evidence recovery,” said Susan
Hartnett, IPR research associate, who is directing the evaluation.
Funded by the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, the study
brings together IPR evaluators and researchers from the University of
Illinois at Chicago’s Center for Research in Law and Justice Studies.
The police department received significant funding for the project from
Oracle Corporation, which plans to pilot the technology in Chicago and
then market it to other police departments. In addition to encouraging community participation, Project CLEAR aims
to computerize administrative tasks and move officers from behind desks
onto the streets. The department hopes the computer technology also will
increase offi-cers’ accountability. For example, after a supervisor
approves an officer’s incident report, the computer system will not
allow the officer to change it. The evaluators will conduct personal interviews with police department staff involved in every aspect of the project’s implementation and use and survey residents and police in selected districts to determine their computer literacy and use. They want to learn if residents would be likely to use computers for reporting crime and neighborhood problems. |
