CALDWELL, Idaho — New data technology is helping Caldwell police stay proactive rather than just reactive while fighting crime.
Click here to learn how proactive policing is replacing reactive approaches — and why it’s making a difference:
"Through one of Chief Ingram's visions, we hired a crime data analyst," said Captain Robert Rosin of the Caldwell Police Department.
Caldwell police say crimes were spiking two years ago.
"We had a spike in gang-related shootings. We had a drug-related homicide and another homicide, and we decided that we needed to look at data and to redeploy the way our officers work," said Cpt. Rosin.
That's where the real-time crime data technology comes in. The technology gathers data from high-crime areas. As police increase their presence, it's helping them crack down on crime from speeding and thefts to graffiti and domestic assaults.
"We're able to see where crime is occurring, which gives us more direction of where to patrol, where to be proactive. From before, it was just kind of us remembering calls and, hey, I think I remember there was cases out here. But now that we have everything kind of categorized and organized into maps, data that we get on a weekly basis. I'm able to push out different patrol officers in different locations to try to prevent crimes that have been occurring if there is a crime trend or just to continue deterrent of crime," said Sergeant Christina Gurrola of the Caldwell Police Department.
I rode along with Officer Tim Fechter, who has worked for the department for four years. He says proactive policing is making a difference.
"We switched over to the statistics-based crime analysis, it's guided us in which areas to be more proactive in. For example, up and down the boulevard here used to be very high crime area, just with all the businesses and whatnot. And there were a lot of burglaries, thefts, all things like that - and I think because we are being more proactive as the boulevard being one of our target areas - I think that alone has helped reduce a lot of the crimes that we've seen in the past," said Officer Tim Fechter of the Caldwell Police Department.
Since implementing the data, Caldwell police say all crimes have gone down. Burglary is down nearly 52%, vandalism is down 36%, graffiti is down 90% and auto burglary is down nearly 49%.
Captain Rosin says decreasing auto thefts is a welcome change.
"We've seen almost up to 20 in one month. And so for us to only have 2 so far in October is a sign that our efforts through proactivity, through engagement, through collaboration are paying off," said Cpt. Rosin.
"It gives us the opportunity to be able to push our resources where they're needed. The officer doesn't have any questions on what their expectations are. We're like, hey, this area needs attention, and those officers are ready and willing to go out there. They love doing their jobs. They love serving this community and keeping it safer," said Sgt. Gurrola.
This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been, in part, converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.