Author: The SmartForce® Team

The SmartForce® Team
SmartForce Technologies Inc.

The Koper Curve theory of policing is gaining traction in a number of police departments. Yet for many agencies, having the right data and analysis available to implement the Koper Curve method is daunting. Poor record-keeping and a lack of usable data can hinder policing efforts to reduce crime incidents with this policing strategy.

Fortunately, there are platform solutions to help police departments more efficiently connect people and data to help prevent and reduce crime in problematic areas.

Koper Curve Explained

The Koper Curve is named for Christopher S. Koper, an associate professor at George Mason University and Senior Fellow at the university’s Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy. The premise is based on the notion that most crime incidents occur in a small percentage of areas in a particular jurisdiction. Some studies indicate that as much as 50 percent of crime occurs in less than 5 percent of blocks or street segments.

By focusing on these hot spots, Koper’s research found, crime rates can be reduced substantially. Instead of stationing officers in one place or telling patrol officers to patrol hot spots is costly and ineffective. Instead, the theory recommends proactive, random and intermittent patrols of these hot spots for 10-16 minutes at least every two hours. Koper’s research showed that the likelihood of criminal activity within 30 minutes of a patrol drive-by was 15 percent. When random police stops lasting 10-16 minutes were incorporated, the likelihood of criminal activity dropped to 4 percent.

The key is intermittent, unscheduled patrols of a meaningful duration rather than regularly scheduled drop-ins.

From a resource perspective the Koper Curve principle has other advantages. For one it makes better use of patrol officers’ time. Secondly, it builds trust and credibility within the nearby community through increased presence and visibility.

Data challenges

Departments seeking to operationalize the Koper Curve principles in their patrols are to be commended. It is a powerful example of evidence-based police work.

However, many agencies face constraints in implementing the Koper Curve due to a lack of processes and systems to collect, track, and analyze the pertinent data. Without data that can easily be entered, stored, accessed and acted upon, there is little accountability for hot-spot policing and it is difficult to manage or measure results. While some department personnel may have educated guesses or hunches as to where those hot spots are or the results from hot-spot policing, a clear examination of the data is required to make a clear determination.

SmartForce™ from Adventos is a powerful solution. SmartForce™ is a first-of-its-kind agency management system software platform that lets law enforcement agencies connect internally and to their communities. Agencies using SmartForce™ are more efficient, better organized and have more functionality for collaborating on intelligence needs, connecting with the public, and keeping officers informed and safe.

SmartForce™ has a module specifically designed to let officers input their patrol activities during un-committed time in one location. Categorized data, easy retrieval, and clear reporting lets analysts and supervisors access the information both in real time and after the fact. By aggregating directed patrol information, offender checks and citizen contacts, departments can prevent or reduce crime in particular jurisdictional areas.

For departments eager to use the Koper Curve model to make their communities safer, SmartForce™ from Adventos is the right choice.

For more information about the SmartForce™ Agency Management System and how it improves hot-spot policing, community-policing, and intelligence collaboration, click here to watch the SmartForce demo. After watching the demonstration video, interested law enforcement officials are invited to request a free trial of the agency management. Click here to view the video and request a free trial today.

The SmartForce® Team
SmartForce Technologies Inc.

You are investing in the SmartForce™ Agency Management System (AMS) and you want to gain the efficiencies of being CJIS compliant on the Microsoft Government Cloud. You now need to decide between Office365, Microsoft SharePoint Online Plan 1, Microsoft SharePoint Online Plan 2, or Microsoft Azure for Government.

Information on each option:

Office365

Office365 comes with Office Professional, SharePoint Online Plan 2, Exchange Online, OneDrive for Business, and a few more features. This is the best solution to use with SmartForce™.

SharePoint Online Plan 2

This is the equivalent of SharePoint Enterprise, the top notch plan for SharePoint Online. You will have extensive searching capabilities with this solution. Searching for historical information, such as prior pattern discussions, roll call pass on, forms, and important documentation, is quick and effortless.

SharePoint Online Plan 1

This is similar to SharePoint Standard and originally available for use with On Premise servers. With this version of SharePoint, the search capability will be a bit restricted. This is the minimum requirement for the use of SmartForce™.

Microsoft Azure for Government

With this option you have more control over your environment, but there is more work to do at set up. Think of Azure as a secure cloud environment to host your own infrastructure. A SharePoint Server Farm will need to be configured along with other architectural considerations. So, more control, but more complexity and overhead to manage.

So what’s next?

Adventos™ can assist with getting you in touch with the right person at Microsoft and your Software reseller to buy Cloud licensing. Your government agency most likely has already negotiated a license agreement with Microsoft. You will want to ask for the following options (all on the Government Cloud):

• Adding user to the Core CAL (Client Access License) for Office 365 G3
• Adding user to the Core CAL for SharePoint Online Plan 2
• A stand-alone user for SharePoint Plan 1

Based on pricing you will be able to choose the right amount of licenses for your team. For example, users who are in a supervisory and/or system administrative position from the rank of Sergeants and above, you may want to provide them with O365 G3 (which comes with SharePoint Plan 12 or SharePoint Plan 2) and for the rest of the organization SharePoint Plan 1 stand alone.

Note: It is extremely important to ask for the complete pricing, so you can decide how to best divide the licensing. Finally, Microsoft offers an Office 365 Free trial for 30 days which can be extended to 120 days with a simple request. This option is a great way to “extend” your agency dollars. Free trials for Office 365 can be requested here.

Office365 Investment and Benefits

Office365 is the perfect “add-on” to your Enterprise Agreement with Office Professional. For about $6/month, per user, (your pricing may vary) you get the latest version of Office Professional, SharePoint Online Plan 2, Exchange Plan 2 (email), and OneDrive (storage) for your agency. The full price of Office Professional as a stand-alone software tool compared to investing in Office365 makes this a favorable choice.

Note: You do not have to implement all of features of Office365 right away. For instance, you can implement SharePoint Online Plan 2 first for your Smart Solution by Adventos™ and migrate to Office365 at a later date. Regardless, Adventos will be there to assist you in the transition.

SharePoint Plan 2 Investment and Benefits

This is the equivalent of SharePoint Enterprise where you will have everything you need. For a government organization adding this onto their EA (Enterprise Agreement), the pricing will usually be $3 to $6/user, per month. SharePoint Plan 2 is our recommended method of running SmartForce™, SmartCity, and SmartCounty by Adventos™.

This is the equivalent of SharePoint Enterprise where you will have everything you need. For a government organization adding this onto their EA (Enterprise Agreement), the pricing will usually be $3 to $6/user, per month. SharePoint Plan 2 is our recommended method of running SmartForce™, SmartCity, and SmartCounty by Adventos™.

SharePoint Plan 1 Investment and Benefits

This is similar to the SharePoint Standard of the good ol’ On Premise software days. We recommend this for pure end users who need only to read and edit documents or information from sites. Notice, if you have an Enterprise Agreement, your pricing can be very low (about $1 to $3/user, per month). If you do not, it may be more expensive than going with the full O365 or even SharePoint Online Plan 2.

Microsoft Azure for Government Investment and Benefits

This is similar to running a data center with SharePoint, SQL Server, and Active Directory, but hosted on the cloud. We recommend this option for very large agencies that have already made an investment on Azure Infrastructure.

In summary

Whatever platform and licensing you choose, you will be in good hands with Adventos. Most agencies in state and local government benefit from the Cloud infrastructure. You have 24×7 monitoring, CJIS level security, and you can focus on giving value to the community you serve and your employees vs. babysitting your servers. The ease of mind, security, and availability of the Cloud, will give you greater mileage.

Start Your Free Trial of SmartForce™ by Adventos

SmartForce™ is the only CJIS compliant and mobile agency management system designed to account for uncommitted time and to drive current policing strategies. SmartForce™ also provides a single platform for integrating and automating all law enforcement administrative processes outside of CAD and RMS. You can request your free trial by visiting www.adventos.com/demo.html.