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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, July 31, 2015 | 4 Halton Regional Police fighting crime with analytics by David Lea Oakville Beaver Staff Halton police can't be everywhere, but the work of their analytics unit is helping them get where they need to be. Halton police Superintendent Nishan Duraiappah recently spoke to the Oakville Beaver about the Police Analytics Unit, which was established in 2014 to help officers increase their efficiency in a growing Halton community. The analytics unit is made up of four civilians with backgrounds in mathematics, the sciences and software programming who have organized the massive amounts of data coming to police from calls, emails and other sources into something usable and readily available. "We have a system that collects building security information, we have a system that collects phone call information. On the road our dispatch system records what officers do and where they go. We have GPS in vehicles that map vehicles," said Duraiappah. "All that data exists and we've been able to put it into one pot so it is easy to extract." This organization means more Halton police officers are now scheduled to work at times and in areas where crimes and other situations requiring police attention are most likely to occur. The result, said Duraiappah, has been a more evenly divided workload for officers and a decrease in the amount of time a resident has to wait when they call for police. The improved system also frees up officer time so they can do more proactive crime prevention work in the community instead of rushing from call to call. "The use of data is improving community safety because we are able to do things more efficiently," said Duraiappah. "We have taken that principle and applied it to a bunch of things. We've been able to monitor thinks like officer safety and how fast we are travelling in our vehicles. We've looked at analysis of where people patrol and where the most effective areas for them to patrol physically are on a map." see Use p.5 Colour + Inspiration = Home Whether you call it drywall, gypsum wallboard or sheetrock, it's all 100% recyclable to us. Documentation for LEED certification is available. Gypsum is a true closed-loop product, designed for your safety and to be infinitely recycled in to new drywall. 905-257-2061 478 Dundas St. W., Oakville Visit our website www.PaintersPlace.ca for Promotional discounts Let our team inspire you! Christine FlaCk design group 905-847-0520 www.nwgypsum.com Located just off the QEW at 2182 WYECROFT ROAD, OAKVILLE PAINTING Done properly the first time... Bullard Brothers Interlock & Flagstone Specialists · Superior Installation · Quality Materials · Competitive Prices · Serving Oakville for over 12 Years ARE YOU TRULY DIVERSIFIED? A world-class asset manager--based in Oakville--Acorn invests over $100 million on behalf of institutions and accredited investors seeking true diversification to achieve beer portfolio returns and risk reduction. Let Acorn help you diversify your portfolio. Contact us to find out how at www.acorn.ca or 905-257-0773 Your Interlock & Flagstone Specialists CUSTOM DESIGNS & INSTALLATIONS 416-688-9069 www.prestigestoneworks.com FREE ESTIMATES 2 YR. WARRANTY