Rowlett Police Department
Central to the role of the Chief of Police is the responsibility to reduce crime and improve the overall quality of life in your community. In today’s modern age of policing, having an intelligence-led and evidence-based approach to crime fighting is vital to your success. Upon assuming the role of Chief, a primary focus was evaluating our historical crime data and formulating a plan to address our problem areas or “hot spots.” Working with the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training (IADLEST) team, we developed a Data-Driven Approach to Crime and Traffic Safety (DDACTS) program for our agency, which has become fundamental to our daily policing operations.
DDACTS emphasizes high visibility and proactive policing to reduce crime and crashes in the community, offering a highly customizable framework tailored to the unique needs of the agency. The simplicity of the implementation of DDACTS is the best part because it leverages your historical data to enhance the work your officers are already doing every day. The IADLEST team facilitated a free 2-day workshop attended by command staff, supervisors, professional staff, community stakeholders, and even City Council Members. Additionally, an IADLEST Crime Analyst collaborated with our department Crime Analyst for an additional day, producing a comprehensive report complete with maps and recommendations for the implementation of the program.
An essential aspect of our approach was affording our department personnel the opportunity to “weigh in” on the plan in order to achieve “buy-in.” This inclusive strategy proved pivotal in achieving widespread support and ensuring the sustainability of our DDACTS Program. The IADLEST team played a vital role in guiding us through the development process, which culminated in the creation of a detailed department policy and a press release tailored for the community. Our DDACTS program serves as a focal point for daily operations wherein every officer is required to dedicate a minimum of 30 minutes to conducting high-visibility proactive policing in one of our four established DDACTS zones. I can’t say enough about the positive experience of working with the IADLEST team to help us establish a DDACTS program in our agency.
Chief Mike Denning, Rowlett, TX. (2024)
Webster Police Department
Data. Law enforcement agencies are awash in substantial amounts of data. So, the challenge becomes, how do we utilize our data to manage resource allocation to best meet the incessant service demands we all face? Few, if any, Chiefs of Police will tell you that they have sufficient resources to meet all the societal issues that the police are tasked with handling. Therefore, it is my belief that we must leverage data and technology to maximize police efficacy for meaningful long-term results. This is where DDACTS becomes such a powerful tool for agencies that embrace it.
Using data to identify the hot spots that constantly consume our resources – to include fire, EMS, and even public works – and implementing practical approaches to reducing those service demands, feels intuitive. However, the process can be intimidating to the untrained, and the data can overwhelm you. The subject matter experts at IADLEST understand this and they help agencies overcome obstacles and potential stumbling blocks through training and collaboration. But to ultimately be successful, DDACTS must become more than just a “program”, or the chief’s most recent “whiz-bang idea”. It must become part of the agency’s guiding philosophy – the overarching approach to reducing crime, crashes, and other social harms in the community. DDACTS is proactive, problem oriented, community oriented, and evidence based. Furthermore, it aligns well with the expectations we have for all our employees to use good problem solving, judgment, and decision making in every instance. DDACTS encourages police officers to do exactly what they signed up for in the first place – make positive impacts in the community through proactive and meaningful police work!
Chief P.T. Bacon, Webster, TX (Nov 2023)
Pharr Police Department
In 2019, the Pharr Police Department participated in a DDACTS workshop provided by IADLEST in conjunction with TxDOT. The workshop provided the department an opportunity to properly train supervisors and police officers in the science behind such an amazing initiative. Attendees received training on topics such as planning , analysis, monitoring, and operations. The DDACTS and analytical training provided our department an opportunity learn new and contemporary methods to work and deploy resources effectively and efficiently with the overall goal of providing the utmost services to our community. The IADLEST staff was very patient and understanding and really took the time to ascertain if the concepts were understood thus paving the way for our agency to succeed. The Pharr Police Department is extremely excited to be part of this initiative and we look forward to improving how to best utilize and maximize our resources to improve the quality of life.
Chief Jose Luengo, Pharr, Texas (2019)
Angleton Police Department
I think most in government will agree that government agents in America serve a conflicted society that is divided on both the mission and methods of policing not to mention many other controversial topics. One specific topic of constant debate and concern is how to effectively mitigate crime and disorder in our communities while preserving the peace, dignity and constitutional entitlements all Americans deserve regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, creed, etc.
However, despite many differences of political and social opinion on approaches that could yield any relevant solutions, most can agree that evidence-based and intelligence-led practices are the most effective in gaining a more objective platform from which to create policy, develop potential solutions, and have a statistically and visually relevant result for citizens to appreciate. This is the core of why DDACTS will be a success for us – The intelligence led, objective reality the data presents and cannot be ignored. This fact combined with the intertwining of the solid community-oriented and problem-solving mechanisms currently already in place in Angleton will give us an edge on our success and head start as we grow and begin to see an evolution in our traffic safety and crime challenges. I see DDACTS as the essential component that especially compliments problem-solving aspect of our sworn duty while the relationships built and solidified by the community policing mechanisms reinforce the integrity and credibility behind the data that will drive our policing actions. This will work, not only because of the proven and effective result experienced by a statistical reduction in crime and traffic accidents, but because it demonstrates the we are in fact driven by data and not by bias or prejudice. This is why we are taking the time to gain the buy-in of all aspects of our community through every mechanism created or known about prior to full implementation.
I specifically want to comment on the highly-detailed analytical work you and your team performed about our agency prior to coming to train us and the post report issued after training. I am impressed by the upfront research that was performed on our agency, which included the cost-benefit analysis and agency performance measures in real numbers. I found both reports offered enlightening and helpful information and perspectives to gain buy-in from not only inside of this agency, but from city administration and local politicians who certainly appreciate the cost-benefit portion, which hones in on one of our core values: stewardship of tax payer dollars.
Chief Aaron Ausmus, Angleton, Texas (2019)
Pasadena Police Department
The DDACTS model itself is solid. Using data to tell us when and where to send our troops is among the basic tenants of good resource allocation. Where a DDACTS approach differs is having a departmental mindset of elongated attention on these areas where crime and crashes traditionally overlay. It's that prolonged focus combined with an "all hands on deck" thinking that makes the DDACTS model unique. When uniformed patrol officers see that all non-uniformed officers are required to commit to a certain number of hours in a zone, based on the data, it sends very strong signals that we, as a department, are in this together and the success of the model is a genuine priority from the top down.
Assistant Chief Jerry M. Wright, Pasadena, Texas (2019)
Richwood Police Department
“As a chief of police, you should never take credit for crime going down. Fact of the matter is you have no control over crime going up or down. Taking credit for crime when it goes down means you must take credit for crime when it goes up. Just don’t do it!” Twice, I have been in attendance, in a training environment, when this statement was vocalized. Each time, I lamented the fact there were others in the room who were perhaps led astray by the statement. For a while now, I have known a powerful truth and that truth is; a police administrator has significant control over social harms and whether they are reduced or permitted to increase within a community. I know this as, several years ago, it was my good fortune to receive training from IADLEST in the Data-Driven Approach to Crime and Traffic Safety (DDACTS) model. As a result of that instruction, and its subsequent practical application, in two separate police departments, I have found DDACTS to be the most powerful tool a police administrator can employ in the fight against crime, crashes, and social disorder. In addition, I believe IADLEST to be the leading experts in DDACTS instruction.
If you’re a chief of police, and you truly wish to have a positive effect on social harms in your community, DDACTS is the answer to that desire. Moreover, if you are fortunate enough to receive IADLEST training on the model your chance of success just went through the roof.
Chief Stephen Scot Mayer, City of Richwood, Texas (2019)
Corpus Christi Police Department
The Corpus Christi Police Department participated in a series of free DDACTS workshops in June 2018 which allowed more than 100 of our personnel to attend. The workshops prepared us for what to expect when planning, launching and monitoring our field operations which were designed to follow the DDACTS model. IADLEST group has been an important part in guiding us in getting our operations off the ground. They have also provided our Analysts with training that is critical to the success of planning, monitoring, and evaluation of our operations. The staff has been very responsive to our requests, and follow up conversations along the way answer questions to help ensure our success with DDACTS. We launched our field operations portion of DDACTS on November 12, 2018. We have high hopes that these operations will have a positive effect on reducing crashes and crime in the predetermined zones.
Captain Russell Sherman, Corpus Christi, TX. Police Department (2018)
City of Allen Police Department
In today’s world, law enforcement must use data to be efficient, proactive, and sometimes as a justification to the actions it takes. The City of Allen is no exception to this. As the City and Police Department continue to grow we must base our decisions using imperial data to maximize the limited resources we have. The Data Driven Approaches to Crime and Traffic Safety (DDACTS) was our means to critically evaluating where crime and traffic issues were occurring in our community. The DDACTS model works regardless of the size of the jurisdiction, population density and demographic of the area. The DDACTS model helped us identify our “problem areas” in the community and provided a systematic approach to addressing these issues in a strategic long-term ideology.
The International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training (IADLEST) was instrumental in helping establish the DDACTs program in our community. With the help of IADLEST, the Allen Police Department specifically identified property crimes in a specific retail / commercial dense area of town as a major contributor to both crimes and crashes in the area. A DDACTS Zone was established using historical data to identify and justify law enforcement efforts in this area. Departmental resources continue to be focused on this area resulting in numerous arrests of dangerous criminals, recovery of hundreds of thousands of dollars in stolen property, decreasing crashes and traffic stops in the area and establishing police legitimacy with our community and retail businesses.
Deputy Chief Kenneth Myers, Allen, TX Police Department (2018)
Weatherford Police Department
Before adopting DDACTS, we faced public safety challenges similar to most growing communities. We found ourselves combating increases in traffic collisions and property crimes with the same level of resources the agency had twenty years ago. We were experiencing more mobile crime from perpetrators coming into our city specifically to commit offenses and then fleeing back to the larger cities in our area. Our officers were exceptional at knowing our local perpetrators and keeping up with them; but we lacked the skills and data to conduct effective location-based patrols rather than just perpetrator oriented patrols. To exacerbate our challenges, we were using an aging and inferior records management system and we didn’t have anyone versed in crime analysis. Fast forward to a year after our DDACTS implementation. We have experienced a 25% reduction in Part I crimes, a 50% reduction in burglaries of motor vehicles, and a 40% increase in traffic stops. We were able to leverage our goals and implementation of DDACTS to purchase a better records management system. Through IADLEST and TxDOT, we sent two people to the no cost crime analysis training and we are now drilling deeper into our data to refine our efforts and resource allocation. In addition to the training, both IADLEST and TxDOT have provided tremendous support to further our program. We are finally working smarter and not harder and although we have a lot left to do, we are certainly on the right track and are reaping some of the rewards of DDACTS.
Chief Lance C. Arnold, City of Weatherford, TX Police Department (2018)
Cleburne Police Department
The Cleburne Police Department is proud to work with IADLEST as a participant in the TX-DDACTS project. The DDACTS model has proven to be very successful in helping to make our community a safer place. In 2018 alone, we reduced crashes by 8.4% from 2017 and we have seen a statistically significant decrease in Part I offenses since implementing the model in our community in 2013. Most recently, QuoteWizard named Cleburne the tenth safest driving city in Texas.
Chief Robert Severance III, Cleburne Tx. Police Department (2018)