Program Profile: P3i Application for Use by Law Enforcement Officers (Lincoln, Nebraska)

This was a mobile application for law enforcement officers that projected the locations of persons-of-interest based on their residences and other location information contained in the police department’s crime database. The program is rated Promising. Officers using the application had a statistically significant greater number of warrant arrests and information reports than officers in the control group. There was no statistically significant impact on citation arrests.

A Promising rating implies that implementing the program may result in the intended outcome(s).

This program's rating is based on evidence that includes at least one high-quality randomized controlled trial.

Program Goals

P3i (which stands for Proactive Police Patrol Information) was a location-based, mobile application for law enforcement officers that projected the locations of persons-of-interest (POIs) based on their residences and other location information contained in the police department’s crime database. The application was designed for the Lincoln (Neb.) Police Department (LPD) with the goal of increasing officer productivity, as measured by the number of citation and warrant arrests made, and the number of information reports created.

Program Components

The P3i system included two components: 1) a central data server, and 2) a mobile software application. The server was responsible for collecting the various datasets that made up the POI database. The data were geocoded from the LPD’s record management system (RMS) and refreshed daily, in both the department’s database and the P3i server. Data were stored in a relational database with a geographic information system (GIS) extension, which allowed for spatial queries. The server also maintained security protocols for mobile devices (i.e., devices that were not registered with the system could not access any of the server datasets).

The mobile software application provided a “view” of the P3i server dataset via Google or Bing maps. The P3i application used location-based services to “push” information to officers in the field, showing the locations of POIs such as gang members, people who have committed sex offenses, and parolees. The information included the home addresses of suspected gang members or those registered for a sex offense, information on arrest warrants, and the locations of recent police incidents. Officers could tap on a point (or address) on the map and view details about the individuals at that location who had one or more of the attributes of interest. Because the application was linked to the LPD’s RMS, officers could retrieve full histories of POIs from their devices. Officers could also enter contact or information reports about individuals, which were then submitted to the RMS.

The application could be used on global positioning system (GPS)-integrated smartphones and tablets, or on an aftermarket GPS-unit integrated into car-based laptops.

Study 1

Casady and colleagues (2015) conducted a randomized controlled trial to study the effects of the P3i application on police officer productivity at the Lincoln (Neb.) Police Department (LPD). All 263 patrol officers in the LPD were eligible to participate, and 90 officers were randomly selected. The 90 officers were randomly assigned to a control group that did not use the P3i or to one of five groups that used GPS-enabled devices (the P3i treatment groups). Group 1 was the control group (n = 15) and did not use the P3i technology in any form. The remaining officers (n = 75) were assigned to one of five treatment conditions. Group 2 included 15 officers who used the P3i application via car-based laptops (specifically mobile data terminals equipped with aftermarket GPS hardware). Groups 3–6 included 60 officers who were randomly assigned to use the P3i application on one of two phones (Apple or Android) or on one of two tablets (Apple or Android). Officers in the treatment condition were assigned to one of 18 training dates between May 2 and July 24, 2011, where they were taught how to operate the device and how to use the P3i application.

The 90 officers were primarily male (87 percent), with an average age of 34.4 years. There were no statistically significant differences between the treatment and control groups in officer rank or any other baseline characteristics.

The study took place over a 6-month period. Outcome measures included warrant arrests, citation arrests, and information reports. Warrant arrests are those issued pursuant to an arrest warrant; citation arrests do not involve a warrant and usually occur as a result of the officer witnessing criminal activity; and information reports are non-arrest reports (written by the officers) to create an official information record for the department, which are then filed at the officer’s discretion. The data were collected from the LPD’s records management system (RMS). Outcomes were also examined across the different devices for treatment group officers.

Casady and colleagues (2015) conducted a cost–benefit analysis to estimate the value of increasing police officer productivity using the P3i application, specifically with regard to warrant arrests. It was estimated that officers spent about 1 percent of their time each month on warrant arrests. The P3i application resulted in a 34 percent reduction in the time spent on warrant arrests. Thus, if the annual cost per officer (i.e., salary) was $5,381 per month, the reduction in time spent on warrant arrests would result in a monthly savings of $16 per treatment officer. The authors calculated that if a device lasts 5 years, and future savings are discounted at a 7 percent interest rate, the amount saved would be about $800 per treatment officer.

The project team worked with the technology transfer unit of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, called NUTech Ventures. They licensed Red Brain Law Enforcement Services, which is also a subsidiary of Red Brain, Inc., to market the P3i application. Red Brain, Inc., a software development firm headed by the second study author, then entered into a partnership with the Omega Group (a company that develops, markets, and supports a variety of law enforcement software tools), to distribute and market P3i as CrimeView NearMe (Casady et al. 2015).

Subgroup Analysis

Casady and colleagues (2015) also examined the outcomes across the different devices used by officers in the treatment condition: Android smartphone (i.e., Motorola smartphone); Android tablet (i.e., Xoom tablet); Apple smartphone (i.e., iPhone); Apple tablet (i.e., iPad); or mobile display terminals (MDTs)/laptops. For warrant and citation arrests, there were no statistically significant differences across the devices, compared with the control group. For information reports, officers who used the P3i application on a Motorola smartphone, iPad, and Xoom tablet filed a statistically significant greater number of information reports, compared with officers in the control group. There were no statistically significant differences between officers who used the P3i application on an iPhone or MDT/laptop, compared with officers in the control group, in the number of information reports filed.

These sources were used in the development of the program profile: