The Tracker
Calvin Johnson and Washington, D.C.'s parole and probation agency apply business intelligence
Information Management Magazine, June 2009
Calvin Johnson, Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency
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Perhaps the last place one would look for an advanced lesson in information management is on the tough streets of Washington, D.C., home to the fourth-highest crime rate for big cities in 2008, according to CQ Press, which compiles crime statistics. In fact, the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA), the federal agency that manages probations and paroles in the nation's capital, is using data warehousing and business intelligence in an intensive effort to reduce the city's recidivism rate and make its streets safer.
The results are impressive - and quantifiable. The agency's goal is to have 80 percent of the 15,000 offenders it supervises in a "successful posture," meaning that the people under CSOSA supervision are meeting the requirements of their parole or probation.
Over the past two years, the agency has made significant progress. In April 2007, that percentage stood at about 69 percent, according to Calvin Johnson, CSOSA's director of the Office of Research and Evaluation, but has since tracked up steadily. By February of this year, 74 percent of offenders the office supervises were found to be meeting requirements.
CSOSA's success can be traced back to 2002, when it went live with a homegrown case management system and statistical analysis software from SAS Institute. Over the years, it has built up its information management capabilities with BI, risk assessment, statistical mapping, GPS tracking and a data warehouse that links to a host of outside law enforcement databases. All the information flows into CSOSA's central repository where it is used by the agency to track offenders and their behavior, and also to track the organization's performance - from branch office operations to caseloads. That information helps supervisors better direct officers, who are able to more aggressively intervene in the field.
"We are better able to manage our resources," says Johnson, whose department is charged with being the agency's keeper of offender data and performance measures.
CSOSA faced many obstacles as it built up its analysis engine. Issues around systems requirements, data quality, metrics, training and change management all needed to be confronted and overcome.
Yet the agency persevered, and, earlier this year, CSOSA reached a major milestone. For years, CSOSA managers have had direct access to the case management system. But, in mid-April, the agency added 300 community supervision officers to the system. Front-line officers now have instant access to daily caseload reports, offender employment status, re-arrest information and risk-needs screening data, empowering them to make decisions in real time. For instance, officers on one team are now able to check out what other CSOSA teams are doing during the day. And, if one team making home visits is near the address of an offender who's scheduled to be visited that day by another team, the first team can take care of that visit, freeing other officers to do other work. "It will make them much more efficient and effective," says Johnson.
Looking ahead, the agency is planning to use its technology arsenal to move into predictive analytics in an effort to forecast which offenders might benefit from being placed in certain programs. Analytics can also be used to predict the outcome of a variety of the agency's daily processes, such as the issuance of bench warrants.
"We're constantly going through a process of knowledge discovery. And the more we learn, the more we build into the system," says Johnson.
Smart Way to Handle Offenders
Like all district agencies, CSOSA is a branch of the federal government, in this case responsible for parolees, people out on supervised release and probationers. "We're a federal agency with a local mission," says Bill Kirkendale, CSOSA's chief information officer. The total workforce is approximately 1,500, including many case officers working out of branches that deal with specific activities, such as substance abuse, mental health, domestic violence and sex offenders.
Since it was formed in 1997 with the merger of the city's probation and parole agencies, CSOSA has put information management at the center of its operation. It recognized from the outset that better tracking of its cases would allow it to spot potential problems, intervene accordingly and keep offenders from violating the terms of their parole or committing crimes.
But knowing which tools are needed to do a job right and having them in hand are not always one in the same. For instance, when the agency was formed, it managed disparate databases - one for the parole department and another for probation. So, one of CSOSA's first tasks was to consolidate the two data stores into one, but it didn't work out as planned. The system that was cobbled together, says Johnson, failed on "a regular and consistent basis." The agency needed something better.
So, in early 2002, CSOSA built a case management system, which it calls the Supervision and Management Automated Record Tracking (SMART) system. SMART is based on a Microsoft SQL Server database and software developed in house using Microsoft's development platform.
CSOSA calls SMART a Web-based case management and information retrieval system that includes information on offenders, their arrests, violations of their probation or parole, details about meetings with supervision officers and lists of any treatments or programs in which the offenders are enrolled. Not only does SMART give case managers information at their fingertips, the system also sends out alerts notifying officers of missed appointments or drug treatments, for instance.
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