On Friday May 3, 2013, the Center for Violence Prevention and Community Safety at Arizona State University (ASU) sponsored a Western Regional Training Workshop on the Smart Policing Initiative (SPI). The Workshop was held at ASU’s downtown Phoenix campus. The target audience for the day-long Workshop included law enforcement officers and criminal justice professionals from Arizona and surrounding states. More than 70 representatives from law enforcement agencies attended the Workshop, including officers from Glendale, Phoenix, Mesa, Peoria, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, Tucson, Prescott, Tempe, Salt River and Flagstaff – as well as representatives from the Maricopa County Manager’s office and the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission.
Drs. Charles Katz and Michael White of ASU began the conference with an overview of the Smart Policing Initiative. The centerpiece of the Training Workshop involved the presentation of projects and outcomes from various SPI sites in the western and southwestern United States. SPI sites were represented by both sworn officers and their academic research partners. Presentations at the Workshop included:
- Reno, Nevada SPI: Prescription Drug Abuse – A Community Problem
- Indio, California SPI: Enhancing Burglary Enforcement through Predictive Geospatial Modeling and Mapping in the Indio Police Department
- Glendale, Arizona SPI: Hot Spots and Prolific Offenders - Using Data-Driven Approaches to Address Persistent Crime Problems in Glendale, AZ
- Phoenix, Arizona SPI: Implementing On-Officer Body Cameras in the Phoenix Police Department
- Los Angeles, California SPI: Smart Policing in Los Angeles – Operation LASER
The Workshop concluded with commentary and closing remarks from Dr. James “Chip” Coldren, Project Director for the Smart Policing Initiative, and Hildy Saizow, Subject Matter Expert for the SPI.
