 One crime analyst, properly trained and utilized, has
the potential to increase the productivity and effectiveness
of perhaps hundreds of police officers. Understood
in this way, an investment in crime analysts
can be a smart way to increase the return on the substantial
investment that communities make in sworn
police personnel.
Originally, the job of crime analyst was limited to tabulating
crimes and identifying patterns of crimes with
the goal of identifying and apprehending offenders.
Today, the field of crime analysis is much more sophisticated.
The ability to electronically
capture, store, and
retrieve massive amounts of
data is infinitely greater than it
was a decade ago. Crime mapping
is now an indispensable
tool in crime analysis, and today
we have standard approaches
for collecting,
analyzing, and disseminating
intelligence across jurisdictional
lines. 
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