Crime analysts sharpen skills at statewide seminar - The Times Telegram

By Greg Mason gmason@uticaod.com

ORISKANY — Nothing but good things.

That’s what Michael C. Green, executive deputy commissioner of the state Division of Criminal Justice Services, said he has heard from authorities about a recently established crime analysis unit in Utica.

The Mohawk Valley Crime Analysis Center, based at the Utica Police Department, was unveiled in January as the latest to join a statewide network of similar entities designed to support law enforcement investigations.

In general, crime analysts work with officers on behind-the-scenes elements of a police investigation, such as mining social media for relevant information on a crime or scouring law enforcement or other informational databases to identify suspects.

In these endeavors, however, consistent training is key, Green said.

With that in mind, most of the analysts employed at the Mohawk Valley center and more than 80 others from across the state attended a two-day training symposium in Oriskany designed to further their expertise in analyzing and compacting information and data for police use.

"It’s just a constantly evolving field. We just want to make sure our analysts are on the cutting edge," Green said.

‘We’re always looking ahead’

This year’s New York State Crime Analysis Symposium started Wednesday at the State Preparedness Training Center in Oriskany.

Green said the seminar included classes focused on two focus areas: best practices for analysts in using existing records to support police officers, and effective ways analysis centers can focus information so law enforcement supervisors can be more proactive with crime prevention.

Experts featured in this year’s symposium included Dr. Jerry Ratcliffe, of the Center for Security and Crime Science at Temple University, and Constable Nathan Dayler of the Toronto Police Service.

Green said the perspective of the gathered experts helped sharpen analysts in perhaps the largest network of crime analysis centers in the country.

"You might find a city that has a center like this. You won’t find a state that has a network of centers like ours," he said. "That said, we never want to sit still. We’re always looking ahead to say, ‘Where do we want to be a year from now? Five years from now?’"

‘A county — and beyond — asset’

The Mohawk Valley analysis center employs 10 full-time and part-time analysts, said Utica police Lt. Stanley Fernalld. It is the newest to join the statewide system; the first crime analysis centers established were in Rochester and Buffalo in 2007.

Fernalld said the Mohawk Valley analysis center has had a range of successes, particularly in identifying suspects in crimes that range from petit larceny to attempted murder. Oneida County Sheriff Robert Maciol said the analysis center is a departure from the conventional practice of agencies devoting officers to running license plate numbers, reviewing video footage and similar work along with traditional investigatory measures.

For the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office, in particular, Maciol said analysis centers help with mapping out crime hot spots so he can deploy resources where they are best utilized.

"Anytime we can work together, it only betters it for everyone involved. No agency can do this job alone," he said. "To have the resources of the crime analysis center, for all of the law enforcement agencies in the county, that’s a huge thing."

Fernalld said, "We may be located in Utica, but it’s truly a county — and beyond — asset."

One of the analysts who attended the two-day symposium was Michelle Collver, a Utica College graduate who studied economic crime investigation.

The 26-year-old said she has worked with the state’s Gun Involved Violence Elimination initiative — more commonly known as GIVE — for three years. With the Mohawk Valley analysis center, Collver said she checks on reports involving shots-fired incidents, sorting through social media and following up on leads that may prove useful to investigators.

The symposium, she said, gave additional perspective how police officers can best digest the information accrued through analysis centers.

"It made it a lot easier," Collver said about the Mohawk Valley analysis center’s impact on her work. "You can bounce off so many ideas with different agencies and they have other databases that you can run names on and get more information."

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