The Science Council of B.C. has given an innovative SFU high-tech spin-off company a $200,000 Technology B.C. grant toward its efforts to help fight crime.
Crime Prevention Analysis Lab (CPAL) Inc., which grew from the pioneering work of SFU environmental criminologists Paul and Patricia Brantingham, conducts research and development on analytical systems for the purposes of crime pattern analysis. It’s the second time the company has received a $200,000 Technology B.C. grant.
CPAL Inc. will soon release its product, a software package called crimepatterns.com, to law enforcement agencies across the country. The software applies geographic mapping to crime scenes to detect patterns in serial criminals’ behaviour.
The first module focuses on auto theft and is about to be tested by Burnaby RCMP. Follow-up modules on break and enter, robbery and arson are planned. The company is preparing to market its auto-theft module this summer.
“We’re excited by the funding and the fast pace this is taking off,” says Terry Whin-Yates (left), president and CEO of CPAL Inc, and a graduate student in the school of criminology. He developed the idea of mapping the location of crimes while studying under the Brantinghams.
The company, based at SFU’s Discovery Park, was formed in 1999 and currently employs seven.
“The underlying concept is that crime is not random,” says Whin-Yates. In the case of auto crime, the system allows investigators to determine patterns between where vehicles are being stolen and recovered, what type of vehicles are being targeted and what vehicles appeal to a particular thief.
They can then call up data on possible suspects and see whether they live in proximity to the crime, which is common among auto thieves, as well as their methods of criminal behaviour — with amazing speed.
“The most probable criminals in this type of theft are repeat offenders,” says Whin-Yates. “The data is there. But it has never been pooled in this way.”
The software may not reduce the manpower necessary to fight crime but it can substantially help to focus the resources, he says.
While the company has also been successful in securing private funding, Whin-Yates says its fund-raising efforts will continue in the hopes of hiring more staff.
Researchers in SFU’s crime prevention analysis lab, run by the Brantinghams, continue to develop, collect and analyse comprehensive criminal justice-related information from police and government — data and models that helped set the stage for CPAL Inc.
