Software fights crime

Systems engineering professor Don Brown and colleagues at the Virginia Institute for Justice Information Systems at U.Va. recently made available an innovative crime-fighting program over the Internet for free.

The software, ReCAP-SDE, for "Regional Crime Analysis Program -- Small Department Edition," enables small police departments around the world to better track and analyze crimes in their jurisdictions. The ultimate goal is to help them anticipate the time and place of likely criminal activity, allowing them to better allocate resources and improve service.

The U.Va. group decided to give away the small department edition as a community service. The institute will continue to charge for its more complex version of the software, which was designed for large, urban police departments.