The Future of Policing Might Be in the Cloud

What if police departments in cities and towns across the United States could use the cloud to get a real-time view of crimes that were occurring? And what if they could leverage data to better predict when and where certain kinds of crimes might happen? That's the vision Microsoft thinks could be just around the corner. The software giant, which has been ramping up its Azure cloud services business as more applications flow into the cloud, is hoping that cloud tools can help transform the way city governments tackle public safety. The City of Chicago is already experimenting with the technology.