Qlik®, a leader in visual analytics, today announced that Avon and Somerset Constabulary has deployed the Qlik Sense® analytics platform to visualize its command center operations data to gain better insight into the availability, objectives, and location of its police officers against public demand. Ultimately, the visual analytics platform will give the constabulary a better grip on case knowledge to help prevent crime and increase crime-fighting success rates as well as reducing the chance of harm to citizens in the local area.

One of the largest police forces in the UK, Avon and Somerset Constabulary has approximately 6,000 people working for the organization, including 2,800 officers. The force’s remit covers inner city areas such as Bristol, as well as more rural areas like the Somerset Moors, so the organization faces – and must respond to – a wider breadth of public issues and call-outs to other forces.

The team has deployed Qlik Sense to visualize data – initially through twelve apps created in a few days – and used across the force, from command center staff through to chief officers; and contain information on officer availability, suspect management and officer objectives – to name a few. The visuals are prominently displayed on screens across its command center, giving staff detailed and accurate information on the live jobs coming in. They are used as the focal point for police officer briefing sessions.

With information clearly mapped out and made easier to analyze the police force can fight crime more effectively. That could be either through dispatching police officers to the right area to meet public demand or, using previous staffing data to pre-emptively allocate officers to certain areas where crime levels are prominent. In fact, as the supervisor’s app updates the crime elements every twenty minutes, the team Sergeant can task an action, then check and test that this has been completed within the shift – as opposed to waiting for a daily refresh. Qlik Sense has already been invaluable in the force’s remit on identifying and dealing with its top thirty highest risk offenders. This has led to a notable number of offenses being dealt with in a more time-efficient manner. For example, in a week alone, twenty-five of the ‘most wanted’ suspects (from the area Top Ten lists) were arrested and a further three were interviewed through voluntary attendance.

Qlik Sense apps used daily or on a regular basis, with up-to-date status information include a crime management reporting app which visualizes workload, resourcing and police officer performance; an allocation management app showing how many times offenses occur and where; an offender management app – using predictive modelling and profiling of an offender with level of risk, cohort and crime pattern and a road safety app using predictive modelling to counter accidents before they happen rather than after.

Sean Price, Head of Performance at Avon & Somerset Constabulary said, “In a position of increasing demand and reduction of resources, Qlik is transforming our insight for improving productivity, efficiency and effectiveness. It helps us democratize and make transparent intelligent insight that can be actioned from board level to the front-line officer. It is currently being used in our control room, offender management teams and by our front-line officers. We have done so much in such a short space of time; yet we feel we have only scratched the surface with its potential.”

Neil Frost, a Detective Sergeant from the Constabulary says, “Using Qlik has helped us amalgamate all our existing systems and drive major efficiencies. We have 24/7 access to visual data analytics which helps inform high risk scenarios and situations. For example, when a name comes up in relation to a suspect, informant or victim, we enter the detail and get a snapshot of the situation and can identify the risk to share that information with police officers attending a crime scene or incident. It helps us spot vulnerabilities, suspect warnings and any other vital information that officers on the street need to do their job effectively and safely. In addition, Qlik is helping to save time, shaving off at least two minutes per call that comes in so we can focus on getting to the action that is required.”

“The way Avon and Somerset Constabulary has visualized its data to see how it can not only reduce, but prevent against, crime is setting the standard for other police forces nationwide,” said Simon Blunn, UK MD, Qlik. “Of all industries, it’s perhaps most important in the police that they can spot trends and make sure officers are in the right place at the right time to pre-empt certain events from happening. After all, it could mean saving someone’s life. We’re really pleased to see Qlik playing such a pivotal role in that crime detection – and insights from our applications used to enforce a change that will ultimately improve public safety.”

About Qlik

Qlik® is the leading visual analytics platform and the pioneer of user-driven business intelligence. Its portfolio of cloud-based and on-premise solutions meets customers’ growing needs from reporting and self-service visual analysis to guided, embedded and custom analytics, regardless of where data is located. Customers using Qlik Sense®, QlikView® and Qlik® Cloud, gain meaning out of information from multiple sources, exploring the hidden relationships within data that lead to insights that ignite good ideas. Headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania, Qlik does business in more than 100 countries with over 40,000 customers globally.

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