NMT Supporting Crime Strategies Unit in Bernalillo Co.

 

By Thomas Guengerich/NMT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The Bernalillo County District Attorney announced a partnership today with New Mexico Tech to support the new Crime Strategies Unit in Albuquerque.

The N.M. Legislature appropriated funds to the District Attorney’s office for the creation of the new Crime Strategies Unit in January. D.A. Raúl Torrez said the establishment of the master service agreement with NMT will support this unit with next-level data interpretation.

“Effectively, this leverages big data to find hidden patterns in criminal behavior,” Torrez said. “New Mexico Tech has been doing this kind of work nationally and internationally in various contexts . . . They understand the analytics better than anyone. And we thought it’d be good to work with one of the best institutions in New Mexico.”

The D.A.’s office has hired four special agents who will collaborate with computer science experts at NMT’s Institute for Complex Additive Systems Analysis (ICASA).

ICASA, which was formed in the late 1990s, has been working on data analysis and information assurance with the Department of Defense and other intelligence agencies for more than 17 years.

NMT President Dr. Stephen Wells said: “There’s always a growing complexity in infrastructure vulnerability, information assurance, information warfare and information operations. The work at ICASA has allowed customers to address vulnerabilities and we’ve become a strong partner with the nation’s intelligence agencies. We are honored to work in New Mexico and bring our knowledge and skill set to the state.”

One of the initial challenges is that crime statistics, data, and reports from multiple agencies are a treasure trove of crime-solving information. But as Dr. Wells notes, much of it is not readily accessible to investigators: “One of the biggest challenges is that you have all this data – most of is what we call ‘flat data.’ It’s not interactive. You have to make that data interactive and pull it up in a way that you can find patterns. That’s where Tech and our staff can help. Once that data is interactive, then you can start doing creative things with understanding systems and identifying patterns.”

Torrez said his colleagues in Manhattan, San Francisco, and Los Angeles have implemented similar data analysis systems with great success. Torrez said the new Crime Strategies Unit in Albuquerque is unique in that his office has partnered with a premier research institution that has renowned expertise in data analysis.

– NMT –