Minneapolis PD Announces Partnership with Benchmark Analytics to Implement First Sign^® Early Intervention System

June 12, 2020
MEDIA CONTACT
Dave Smolensky
312-673-3538 | [email protected]

Minneapolis Police Department engages Benchmark Analytics^® to integrate city’s first research-based early warning and intervention police management system

Minneapolis Police Department Chief Medaria Arradondo announced a partnership with Benchmark Analytics to implement its research-based early warning and intervention police management system, to analyze police officer performance data and detect variables that identify off-track behavior, as a critical step to reform department practices, accountability, and transparency.

“We have been very fortunate to bring on Benchmark Analytics,” said Chief Medaria Arradondo during the Minneapolis Police Department news conference. “We as an organization need to evolve and use technology to our advantage. We are able to do this now with real-time data and I’m very excited about that being introduced to our organization.”

First Sign^® Early Intervention is designed to flag intervention early on so leadership can take preventative and corrective action before the behavior becomes a real problem. Benchmark Analytics’ comprehensive system considers context and patterns of behaviors, unlike other tools that rely on threshold-based triggers.

“We have entered a new era of police reform as cities can take advantage of methodical, data-driven systems to systemize and engage officers who are engaged in problematic conduct, while simultaneously identifying and supporting officers who are successfully on track,” said Ron Huberman, Benchmark Analytics CEO and Co-Founder.

This new era presents an opportunity to create a new model of police reform, a departure from one that has relied on the same fundamental model for the last 100 years. Historical police reform until recently has failed to do one fundamental thing – identify officers engaged in problematic conduct and take action to remediate the conduct.

The First Sign Early Intervention system is based on years of longitudinal studies and analyses of officer conduct in police departments across the U.S. The University of Chicago and its Center for Data Science and Public Policy, with support from the Joyce Foundation, developed a series of predictive models and algorithms that identify patterns of police officer conduct that lead to problematic behavior in policing.

###About Benchmark Analytics
Benchmark, in collaboration with our esteemed research partners led by the University of Chicago, as well as analytic specialists and world-class technology developers, has created the only evidence-based police force management and early intervention system available today. This proprietary, all-in-one solution captures and aggregates all officer performance data in an easy-to-use, software-enabled system; analyzes it for early, preventative intervention; and provides customized officer support with specific case action plans.

Benchmark Analytics is supported by the National Police Early Intervention and Outcomes Research Consortium, chaired by the University of Chicago, and supported by the Joyce Foundation.