The Computer Science and Engineering department created a tracking mobile app for Lincoln Police Officers. Developed in collaboration with the Lincoln Police Department and the Nebraska Public Policy Center, Proactive Police Patrol (or P3i) has been in use since May of 2011.
P3i uses a combination of GPS and Lincoln Police Department Record Management System crime data to provide an interactive map which shows law enforcement officers the positions of nearby registered sex offenders, known gang members, active warrants, registered parolees, wanted person broadcasts, and recently reported incidents.
Officers can simply interact with the information on their mobile device using Google Maps, a technology with which they are familiar. The map appears with relevant data plotted as pushpins, designating the persons of interest; dynamically updating as the officer drives through a neighborhood.
CSE’s research and development of P3i was funded by a grant from the National Institute of Justice. A free download of the app is available through Red Brain inc. in the iTunes App Store and the Android Marketplace for tablets and smart phones. P3i is also compatible for laptops.
The Lincoln Police Department provides a public data feed containing sanitized incident reports for public use of P3i.
P3i is currently deployed to 75 officers on 5 types of devices and 3 different operating systems. Initial focus group feedback reflects an enthusiastic reception of the application, as well an as increase in arrests and contacts.
The project’s main collaborators were Professor Ashok Samal, Ian Cottingham, and Kevin Farrell.
Cottingham, chief software architect and lead iOS developer of the application, worked with the LPD team and Lincoln Public Safety Director, Tom Casady to design the software to function according to their needs and oversaw the development of each of the individual components. He is also the co-founder of Red Brain inc., a CSE spin-off company that is currently in the process of licensing P3i from the University.
“Our goal is to commercialize the product so that it can be sold to other agencies. This will give our team the ability to continue to improve P3i beyond the scope of the NIJ grant and will allow other agencies to benefit from the technologies that were developed here at CSE and UNL. The research team will continue to work with the LPD officers through the remainder of the grant (September, 2012) to study how the software is used and how it can be best deployed to increase proactive policing. Red Brain will continue to work closely with the research team as we evolve the software,” he said.
Cottingham believes projects like P3i are “a perfect example of the kind of innovation that goes on here in CSE and highlights the opportunities that our students have for experiencing both research and industry software development using the latest technology and software engineering trends… These three areas: research, software development, and economic development/technology transfer really highlight what is going on in CSE and demonstrates the breadth of the activities that our faculty are involved in and educational opportunities that are available to students.”
P3i downloads available in
The iTunes App Store:
http://itunes.apple.com/app/proactive-police-patrol-information/id453492069?mt=8
The Android Marketplace: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.redbrain.p3i_hd