COPLINK: A Collaboration of COPLINK: A Collaboration of Research and Application for Research and Application for

Law EnforcementLaw Enforcement

Rosie Hauck, MIS Dept., Research Associate

Sgt. Jennifer Schroeder, Tucson Police Department

Jan. 25, 2001 NSF COPLINK Center Workshop 2

Presentation OutlinePresentation Outline

• The Need for COPLINK– TPD Critical Information

Issues– Issues in Law Enforcement– COPLINK Development

• In the Hands of the Users– Goals– User Evaluation– Real Case Examples– Lessons Learned

• Looking Towards the Future– Knowledge

Management– Legal and Ethical

Issues– Human-Computer

Interaction– Organization Change

The Need for COPLINKThe Need for COPLINK

Leveraging Knowledge Management Technologies for Law Enforcement

Jan. 25, 2001 NSF COPLINK Center Workshop 4

TPD Critical Information TPD Critical Information IssuesIssues

• Aging, isolated systems

• Lack of access to information in neighboring jurisdiction

• Federal funding opportunity to participate in research and development

Jan. 25, 2001 NSF COPLINK Center Workshop 5

NIJ FundingNIJ Funding

• Improve internal and external access to case level information

• Partnership oriented– TPD Relationship with UA AI Lab– Size of agency perfect for research

• Goal was proof of concept prototype

Jan. 25, 2001 NSF COPLINK Center Workshop 6

Problems in Law EnforcementProblems in Law Enforcement

• The Law Enforcement environment– Pressure of Time

– Incomplete information (Harper & Harris, 1975)

• Access to Information– Lack of information sharing and system integration

– Interface Design (Nielsen, 1993)• Different user abilities

• Different job functionalities

Jan. 25, 2001 NSF COPLINK Center Workshop 7

Knowledge Management (KM)Knowledge Management (KM)[Davenport, 1995; O’Leary,1998][Davenport, 1995; O’Leary,1998]

• Acquiring (and reacquiring) knowledge

• Information Overload (Blair, 1985)

• Knowledge management tools?– Time Analysis System (Pliant, 1996)– Future ALert Contact Network (FALCON,

UNC-C)– Expert systems (Bowen, 1994; Braham, 1998)

Jan. 25, 2001 NSF COPLINK Center Workshop 8

COPLINK System COPLINK System DevelopmentDevelopment

• User-Centered Design Methodology (Norman, 1988)– Data source identification and integration– Functionality– Interface Design

• Data Accuracy: Verification and Testing

In the Hands of the UsersIn the Hands of the Users

COPLINK Initial Deployment Effort

Jan. 25, 2001 NSF COPLINK Center Workshop 10

Goals of Deployment EffortGoals of Deployment Effort

• Understanding end users’ needs

• Future development direction

Jan. 25, 2001 NSF COPLINK Center Workshop 11

User Evaluation ApproachUser Evaluation Approach

• Field Experiment– Challenges

• Lack of control

• Effort level

– Benefits• External validity

• Real cases

• Data Collection Methods: Triangulation– Demographic

Questionnaire

– Structured interviews

– User journals

– Focus groups

– Database Transaction Logs

Jan. 25, 2001 NSF COPLINK Center Workshop 12

Participants*Participants*Unit/Job Classification

CA Sgt Det Ofc Totals

Aggravated Assault: 1 5 6

Auto Theft: 1 4 5

Homicide 1 6 7

Major Offenders Undercover

1 1 4 6

Surveillance: 1 5 6

Crime Analyst 9 9

9 5 16 9 39*Total of 30 machines

Jan. 25, 2001 NSF COPLINK Center Workshop 13

TPD’s PerspectiveTPD’s Perspective

• 40 participants

• Fruits of user-centered design

• Productivity gains:– Will we investigate/solve more cases?– Will we save time?

• Real Case Examples

Jan. 25, 2001 NSF COPLINK Center Workshop 14

Auto TheftAuto Theft

• Boyfriend steals woman’s car

• Sergeant quickly checks suspect and finds priors for auto theft, shootings, and gang affiliation

• Case is assigned that normally would have been discarded if only the first piece of information were noted

Jan. 25, 2001 NSF COPLINK Center Workshop 15

Undercover/Surveillance UnitsUndercover/Surveillance Units

• Use of integrated information to identify suspects

• Person Details information used to find suspect

• Suspect under surveillance commits another burglary and is arrested

Jan. 25, 2001 NSF COPLINK Center Workshop 16

Aggravated AssaultAggravated Assault

• A teenaged victim falls into a coma after ingesting possible antifreeze

• The detective quickly finds information on the four suspects by finding a prior case in COPLINK

• User Comment: “Compared to RMS [the current system], I saved at least an hour. I was able to run this search even after having COPLINK for just one day.”

Jan. 25, 2001 NSF COPLINK Center Workshop 17

RobberyRobbery

• A highway robbery case where three males rob two girls

• A crime analyst assigned to the case used COPLINK Connect to find suspects' prior offenses, addresses, and associates.

• User Comments: “…more user friendly…mug shots help immensely…and the fact that you can sort entries in any of the tables.”

Jan. 25, 2001 NSF COPLINK Center Workshop 18

Lessons Learned from Lessons Learned from DeploymentDeployment

• Key issues for users– Speed of system– Integration of mugshots (especially for detectives and

officers)– Desire to integrate other agencies system

• Use of transaction logs/search queries• User integration of COPLINK

– Interesting correlation between time at unit/TPD with total number of COPLINK sessions

– Looking for full RMS functionality in COPLINK

Looking Towards the FutureLooking Towards the Future

Technology Development and Adoption Issues in Law Enforcement

Jan. 25, 2001 NSF COPLINK Center Workshop 20

Knowledge Management Knowledge Management Technology Research and Technology Research and

DevelopmentDevelopment• Tacit knowledge representation (Nonaka &

Takeuchi, 1995)

• Design of Knowledge Management technologies– Functionality– Interface design

• Transference of knowledge

Jan. 25, 2001 NSF COPLINK Center Workshop 21

Legal and Ethical IssuesLegal and Ethical Issues

• Trust and perceived trust– With other agencies– With information

• Training and adoption issues

• Evaluation of technology– Avoiding misuse and abuse– Judging quality of technology

Jan. 25, 2001 NSF COPLINK Center Workshop 22

Human-Computer InteractionHuman-Computer Interaction

• Interface design

• Defining and testing for usability

• Individual differences– E.g. job classification and/or detective unit– One system Different job functionalities,

different user characteristics

Jan. 25, 2001 NSF COPLINK Center Workshop 23

Organizational ChangeOrganizational Change

• Methodological approach– Longitudinal evaluation, data collection over

time (e.g., Orlikowski, 1996)– Logic of Opposition (Robey & Boudreau,

1999)• Persistent structures

• New intended structures (technologies)

Jan. 25, 2001 NSF COPLINK Center Workshop 24

Organizational ChangeOrganizational Change

• Social Informatics (Kling, et al., 1998)– Communication shifts

– Social network analysis: Modeling communication patterns within and/or between agencies

• Similar agencies: Specifically law enforcement

• Dissimilar agencies: General government

– Collaboration across agencies

– Unintended uses of technology (e.g., Manning, 1996)

Jan. 25, 2001 NSF COPLINK Center Workshop 25

Organizational ChangeOrganizational Change

• Work Practice/Knowledge management skills– Technology Adoption: “On the Streets”– Development of norms in technology use– Redefinition of job functions within agencies

Where to go from here?Where to go from here?