Of all the ways technology is shaping law enforcement and public safety, perhaps the most cinematic is the ability to stop crime before it ever occurs. A range of applications, software programs, and services designed to see around the corners of the everyday crime pattern can help law enforcement plan more deliberately and channel resources accordingly. Although some examples may sound like science fiction, predictive policing regularly delivers real-world results.

“Predictive policing” can mean several things. In some cases, it centers on a mathematical equation designed to identify criminal patterns and trends in a given area. However, it can also be simply a way of making better use of data that already exist, sharing that information among public safety professionals, transmitting key items to officers in the field (and their mobile devices), deploying internal resources more efficiently, and leveraging the Internet and social media to play a greater role in solving crimes and understanding what’s coming.