Camden City police say new technology that allows them to gauge high-crime areas and descend upon them has already paid off.
The crime mapping technology, which analyzes calls for service and police reports, enables the department to pinpoint crime trends in certain sections of the city. When a high-crime area is established, officers are reallocated there for a 28-day stint to “suffocate” crime.
The crime-mapping software, as well as “comp stat” (computer statistics) meetings to discuss the statistics and react to them, has resulted in a 32 percent reduction in reportable crime in a sector of East Camden and a 14 percent reduction in calls for service citywide in the last three weeks.
If data reports a sector is still receiving the most calls for service after the initial sweep, it will be saturated with a police presence for another 28 days.
When the busiest sector is identified, the city will send in both plainclothes and undercover officers to begin infiltrating and dismantling drug sets. Uniform officers will then move in large numbers by walking beats, motorized patrols and bike patrols.
