Technology Helps Nassau Cops Catch Purse Thieves

Credit the tipoff to Big Brother.

In an Orwellian way,  are crediting technology and analytics in helping to end the rash of purse snatchings that have plagued residents over the past few months.

Late Friday night police arrested Adesola Oguntunji, 20, of Westbury and Lucson Desir, 22, of New Cassel who are  which occurred between Oct. 23 and Nov. 13 along Nassau’s south shore.

Nassau County Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey made the announcement Tuesday afternoon at the , crediting Nassau’s “intelligence-based policing” system for the arrests, which rely heavily on investment in crime analysis.

“Virtually all law-enforcement agencies are struggling with less personnel,” Mulvey said, as the number of uniformed officers in Nassau is reportedly less than it was in 1965, despite a much higher population. “It’s statistically safer than it was a year ago,” County Executive Ed Mangano said, citing a 10.87 percent overall decrease in crime over 2009.

Statistics indicate all crime is down save for commercial burglaries which rose 3.66 percent in 2010. Stolen vehicle crimes declined by about 400, robberies by 160, and violent crimes such as murder or rape were down 12.9 and 21 percent, respectively. The lowest percentage decrease came from felony assaults, down only 0.52 percent in 2010, with four less incidents reported as opposed to 774 in 2009.

Using a real-time crime center at the police academy in Massapequa Park, an intelligence center reviews information such as official police reports, auto accidents, domestic incidents, traffic tickets, appearance tickets, suspicious activity reports, shot spotters, license plate readers, covert cameras and social networking sites.

“All of this information is analyzed daily,” Mulvey said. “Seven days a week.” Information is fed to the officers in the squad car via a touchscreen information panel. An information screen also hangs in every precinct and squad room in the county as well as the probation, parole and district attorney’s offices.

“This way you can take your limited resources and focus them on where we predict a crime is emerging or about to emerge,” Mulvey said. This predictive analysis can tell the officer where the analysts think the next crime will occur, rather than utilizing hot spot policing which is “reactionary” in Mulvey’s view.

“Intelligence-led policing prevents hot spots from developing in the first place and addresses them as they are emerging,” the commissioner said.

“A cop accesses crime data at his fingertips instantaneously,” Sgt. Patrick Ryder, commanding officer of the Asset Forfeiture Intelligence Center said demonstrating the touch screen. Officers can search by type of crime broken up by precinct and designated by red dots on a map. The screen can also display information on robberies, gang information, firearms activities, wanted persons and DNA.

“We share a criminal environment both with the county police department and our villages,” Ryder said. “Through this technology that our villages have, we’re able to see when the pattern starts moving.”

The system can also provide photos of those on probation in the neighborhood. “We overlap the crime with the bad guys that have come out of jail,” Ryder said.

In terms of the purse snatchers, analysts made the connection in December from incidents in November when two officers spotted a suspicious a car in an area near where the thefts had occurred. The two individuals were interviewed and gave stories about “waiting for girls.” A suspicious activity report was made out which analysts examined and tied it into purse snatchings “because the car was somewhat similar,” Mulvey said. Witnesses described the robbery car as damaged and insurance records were investigated. License plate readers also put the car “in the vicinity” of where the thefts occurred.

Following the Friday robbery, officers watched the address obtained through the license plate, and when the suspects returned to the residence, “they ring the victim’s cell phone that was taken, it rings in their car and they got the guys,” Mulvey said.