HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 8665INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS
NO. 8665
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council February 22, 2005
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SUBJECT: SHERLOCK - A NEW TECHNOLOGY TOOL FOR THE FORT
,e„ WORTH POLICE DEPARTMENT
Since 1995, the Police Department has collected over 240 million "rows" of data on offenses in
Fort Worth. Unless a police officer was an accomplished computer programmer, there was no
quick or easy specific way to access and view all of this data. Officers often spent hours
combing through printed offense reports looking for information.
In response to this problem, the Information Technology Solutions Department, in cooperation
with the Police Department, developed the web based "Sherlock" program that allows any
police officer easy access to offenses - related data. From finding out what happened on an
officer's beat while they were off duty to investigating a homicide, Sherlock allows its users to
drill into the data whether it is by event, location, person, or object attributes. Once in the data
warehouse, everything is cross - referenced by hyperlinks, allowing users to explore potential
relationships in just seconds. The response from officers at the Police Department has been
very encouraging, including the identification of suspects in several cases that was previously
not possible using outdated methods. We are pleased to inform the City Council of the
deployment of the Sherlock program - a powerful new technology tool for the Fort Worth Police
Department.
Should you have any questions regarding this information, please contact Pete Anderson, CIO,
Information Technology Solutions Department at (817) 392 -8781 or Captain Rick Hoeppner,
Police Department at (817) 392 -4250.
Charles R. Boswell
City Manager
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS