Clicking on an icon brings up a case number, which provides access to a computer-aided reporting system containing the original report. According to Allen, the operation enables police to identify crime patterns, trends and hot spots. Instead of patrolling randomly, cops armed with computerized maps put their resources into serious trouble spots. For example, when we see a pattern of stolen cars in a particular area, one strategy might be to put a bait car in the area with hidden video cameras, tape recorder and a GPS tracking system. When somebody steals the car, the system alerts us, and we put squads behind it.
Effective tactics involve improved intelligence by street officers.
For example, if I were to arrest suspects in a liquor store robbery, before I could ask them questions about that robbery, I would have to give them a Miranda warning and record the conversation. But there are no constitutional constraints against my asking them questions about other crimes that have been occurring. Everybody who is arrested is asked general questions about who is dealing drugs in the area, who has weapons, who was involved in a certain shooting. If we have a hot crime question, we ask everybody who is arrested about that particular crime. He said the technique works better than they had expected.