The Office of Planning & Analysis transformed in 2019 growing in the number of personnel and scope of duties. With the growth came a reorganization into two units: Technology and Analytical Services.
The Technology Unit’s mission is to manage the technology project portfolio for the Police Department and serve as liaisons to City IT and other City departments. Plan, lead, manage, and evaluate the delivery of technology services for the Police Department in alignment with the organizational vision, mission, values, and goals to meet the information needs of internal and external customers. The unit is staffed by the technology services manager and a business application specialist II. Other duties include managing technology related incidents, completing software upgrades, developing system requirements, and implementing new technology initiatives.
The Analytical Services Unit’s mission is to assist department members in decision making through administrative, tactical, and strategic crime analysis. The team is responsible for preparing the official crime statistics for the department. ASU is staffed by seven civilian members: one data analysis supervisor and six public safety analysts. Reorganizing all data analysis activities into one centralized team promotes communication, cross training, and encourages standardized deliverables. Other duties include preparing statistical summary reports on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual basis, writing reports that include detailed methods, conclusions and recommendations, preparing materials and delivering written or oral presentations, working with geographic information system (GIS) software tools to map and analyze data, and solving various technical and administrative problems. The team performs queries of large databases using tools such as SQL and/or MS Excel. The goal of the unit is to improve the operational effectiveness and efficiency of the delivery of police services through data-driven decision-making.