Modern policing: Algorithm helps NYPD spot crime patterns

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Police Department is using technology to spot crime patterns.

Pattern-recognition software that the department developed allows crime analysts to compare robberies, larcenies and thefts to hundreds of thousands of crimes logged in the NYPD’s database at the click of a button.

It’s much faster than the old method, which involved analysts sifting through reports and racking their brains for similar crimes. It’s more comprehensive, too, with analysts able to spot patterns across the city instead of just in their precinct.

The software is called Patternizr (PAT’-ur-ny-zur). Its developers detailed their work in a recent journal article. The Associated Press is the first news outlet they’ve spoken to about it.

They say the NYPD is the first police department in the country to use a pattern-recognition tool like this.