Who we are, and what we do…

East Valley COMPASS is hosted by the Redlands Police Department as a federally-funded effort. The COMPASS team consists of Director Kurt Smith, Crime Analysts Sheila Harbert and Raquel Perez, Database Analyst Danny Norman, and GIS Analyst Phil Mielke. Call Kurt Smith with your needs, suggestion or questions at (909) 798-7654, extension 5.

A primary goal of the COMPASS Initiative was, and remains, the sharing of law enforcement data in support of crime reduction and prevention efforts across the region. Local agencies include the police departments of Colton, Fontana, Redlands, Rialto, San Bernardino, and the communities of Colton, Grand Terrace, Highland, Loma Linda and Yucaipa served by the Sheriff's Department. Our partner stakeholders include many more agencies and organizations.

GIS makes all the difference…

How is data from so many different agencies and organizations shared, combined and analyzed? Geographic information systems (GIS) technology provides the framework for making sense of the address or location attributes nearly always present in organizational datasets. For example, though the participating law enforcement agencies nearly all have different databases, all capture street addresses for dispatched calls for service, reported crime locations and on arrest reports. Data is converted to a common set of terms, and the GIS system allows address information to become the common element for comparison against streets, schools, parks, social service office locations, etc. Beyond that, GIS tools allow areas of interest or concern to be selected and related reports to be created that put the activity in a community context. GIS technology allow the COMPASS team to map and analyze combined data sets in a way that reflects how people think about the neighborhoods and cities where they live, work, study and play.