Peoria Police use technology to predict crime hot spots

PEORIA, Ariz. (KSAZ) - Peoria Police Department officers are using a new tool when it comes to fighting crime in the city. It's called Hunchlab, and it's a program that aims to predict when and where crimes may occur.

"The goal is prevention, not necessarily we're going to go in that area and make a bunch of arrests, the goal is to prevent crime from occurring in that area," said Officer Brandon Sheffert.

During their daily briefing, officers are given a mission for their patrol area based on what the lab predicts may be happening during the officer's shift. It's based on crime stats, trends, special events, and even the weather on that particular day.

"This kind of helps us with our deployment strategies as far as putting officers where the technology is saying there is a higher likelihood of a certain crime happening," said Sheffert.

"What we do is focus on high visibility in those areas, which means not necessarily just stopping people in those areas. It's just being in those areas and making sure people see the squad car with the Peoria Police on the side of it," he said.

It's just one more tool that will hopefully protect the citizens of Peoria and prevent crime.