BALTIMORE, Md — City officials renewed a program that is designed to stop crime before it starts.
Wednesday, the Board of Estimates approved $635,000 to extend the contract with Strategic Focus LLC, the company that oversees the predictive policing program. Police believe it gives them a crystal ball on crime and they want to continue to use it.
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The program is designed to help stop crime before it happens. It uses a combination of closed-circuit TV cameras, data from past crime incidents, and license plate readers on squad cars to provide information to officers.
The contractor, Strategic Focus, provides daily, weekly and monthly crime briefings along with developing protocols and strategies for reducing crime. Officers said its already made a dent in shootings and homicides since it was installed in the eastern and western districts last June.
The Predictive Policing program was created by a deputy chief in Los Angeles and built in Chicago before it hit the streets of Baltimore last summer.
