The NRW State Criminal Police Office (LKA) uses SKALA to calculate the probability of residential burglaries, commercial burglaries and motor vehicle offences on the basis of spatial data and makes the forecasts available to the police authorities on a weekly basis.
The software collects and categorizes data on burglaries in a city, for example, including the crime scene, time of the crime and the perpetrators' actions. This data is combined with freely available information on building development, social and infrastructure. Based on this data, an algorithm determines in which residential areas the probability of burglaries is particularly high in the near future. This allows the police to be particularly present and alert in these areas.
As a result, SKALA makes it possible to identify emerging crime hotspots at an early stage, thereby helping the police to carry out their duties in a targeted manner. SKALA thus supports operational planning from a central location and offers new starting points for crime prevention.
The use of SKALA has proven itself in metropolitan districts. From the start of 2021, all district police authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia will receive crime forecasts from the system.
The number of domestic burglaries fell again across the state in 2019 to 26,857 compared to the previous year with 29,904 cases. This trend also appears to be continuing in 2020.
