The Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention has awarded the Baltimore Metropolitan Council a $74,215 grant to provide local law enforcement agencies with high-tech tools to fight crime.  Up to five police departments will each receive customized crime mapping and analysis software, a computer and printer, installation, training, technical support and a local computerized base-map.

"Last year BMC received a Byrne Grant that enabled us to assist six law enforcement agencies, including the Howard County Police Department," said Howard County Executive James N. Robey, a former Howard County Police Chief who currently serves as BMC Chair.  "As law enforcement agencies assume a front-line role in homeland security, it becomes more and more important for officers on the beat to have easy access to timely crime data."

The SLAM (Street-Level Activity Mapping) software that will be provided to participating law enforcement agencies was

developed by BMC in cooperation with the Baltimore County Police Department.   SLAM was designed to be customized by local police departments, and to provide ease of both data entry and retrieval.  Information about user-selected types of criminal activity is displayed on a map.  Clicking on a crime icon reveals whatever information the using agency has chosen to enter, up to and including photos or drawings of suspects.  Patterns of activity are easy to detect visually, simply by looking at the icons on the map.  In addition, SLAM can be used to track changes in activity, and to generate bulletins and crime analysis reports.

Each participating police department will also receive MapInfo Professional digital "StreetPro" premier street maps.  "StreetPro" maps are also used by the Baltimore/Washington Regional Crime Analysis System, as well as in other monitoring of criminal activity at both the state and federal level.

"Effective crime control takes a concerted, coordinated effort on a regional front," said Paul Farragut, Executive Director of the Baltimore Metropolitan Council.   "BMC is pleased that, through this Byrne Grant from the Governor’s Office on Crime Control and Prevention, we are able to expand the use of crime mapping to smaller police departments in the region.  Criminals don’t respect jurisdictional boundaries.  CrimeSmart will help minimize those boundaries."

Posted: 10/15/2002