Waco police hire crime analysts in proactive policing effort - Waco Tribune-Herald

After sifting through the aftermath of Waco crimes for 12 years, former Waco police crime scene technician Angie McCallister wanted to become more proactive in fighting crime.

"I wanted a new challenge, and this was a great opportunity to still help our community," McCallister said. "This is just a different way to bring crime down in a new approach."

She and her new partner, Bret Page, were hired in March as Waco police certified crime analysts. The duo will research and use historical and real-time crime data to identify trends and find "hot spots" of crime to inform proactive approaches to policing.

"This is a stratified method, a more proactive rather than reactive approach," Page said.

They will work to identify needs in specific areas of the city and help direct police resources to meet the needs, he said.

The city has never had crime analysts designated for this specific task. Page and McCallister underwent training and are working with new resources to build the new division from the ground up.

Page, who worked as a criminal intelligence officer with the U.S. Coast Guard, has worked in intelligence operations throughout the world. He took on a domestic role with the Department of Homeland Security and worked in El Paso before coming back to Waco, his hometown.

"I actually used to come see my doctor in this building when I was a kid," Page said, referring to police headquarters in the former Hillcrest Tower at 3115 Pine Ave. "My wife and I decided that it was time for us to come back home."

McCallister graduated from Baylor University, then joined the Waco Police Department in 2008 as a crime scene technician. She said her experience on the ground throughout Waco and Page's analytical experience will complement each other as they come up with proactive responses for officers.

"I think we have a pretty good balance and we making a good partnership," McCallister said.

Waco Police Chief Ryan Holt said police administrators have been considering adding crime analysts to the department for several years. Now the resources are in place, the work is underway and Holt hopes it will make the department more efficient and effective.

"Historically, we've been answering between 100,000 and 125,000 calls for service a year and what these analysts will be able to do is to help deploy resources in a manner that is economically efficient," Holt said. "We know police are a significant cost to the city's general fund, so we think these two folks and the skills they bring to the table will be crucial as we move forward."

Holt became police chief after former chief Brent Stroman retired last year. Holt said Stroman had been pushing for crime analysts positions for several years, and administrators were able to secure approval for the positions from the city this spring.

"We had been talking about this for years when we were in Chief Stroman's staff, and it was clear to us that even when the economy got better, we were still going to have to do more with less," Holt said. "By the nature of policing, we are serving a lot more visitors, dealing with a lot more business. We are dealing with things with explosive economic growth, which are great things, but we are always about 18 months behind."

The analysts will also strengthen the link between Waco police and other agencies in McLennan County and surrounding areas as they share information, Holt said.

"Our bad guys are the same bad guys that do stuff in Robinson, Hewitt and vice versa, and even Temple and Killeen," he said. "Right now, between Dallas and Austin this doesn't exist and this will give us a tie in with the Austin (Regional Intelligence) Center and the Dallas Fusion Center to develop actionable intelligence by using analytical data."

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