By Lilia Guan

 

Software vendor, Pitney Bowes Business Insight’s MapInfo Crime Profiler software has been picked up for use by one of the largest police bureaus in England – The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS).

 

The MPS is divided into a number of Borough Operational Command Units which directly align with 32 London Boroughs, excluding the City of London which is a separate police area and the responsibility of the City of London Police.

 

Pitney Bowes’ business development manager policing and public safety Ian Broadbent said MPS picked up 1700 licenses for police stations within its boroughs.

 

“Crime Profiler is being used by police force in the US, as well as transport organisations working with local police,” Mr Broadbent said.

 

“However, the product has also been picked up private organisations within the insurance industry to help identify fraudulent claims. The product can also be used by any industry to help identify crime and fraud within the organisation itself.”

 

Mr Broadbent, who previously held the position of Head of Crime and Intelligence Analysis at Greater Manchester Police, told Government News the product’s Core functions included hotspot analysis, interactive analytical investigation and temporal analysis.

 

MapInfo Crime Profiler also included visual and interactive charting and graphing capabilities.

 

The product also detected patterns of fraud that were constantly changing.

 

It allowed for data combinations and overlays, visualisations and analyses, as well as the ability to rapidly vary the geographical aspect of any investigation.

 

Organisations could locate crime hot-spots and uncover fraudulent activity clustered around a specific location, be it connected residences, non-existent business addresses, altered ATMs and others.

 

“Crime Profiler helps organisations and agencies to understand fraud distribution and explore the mechanisms, dynamics and generators of fraudulent activity,” Mr Broadbent said.