NYPD uses new tool to find crime patterns: officials

The NYPD has a new digital pattern-spotting partner to help connect crimes across precincts and find their suspect quicker. The software, designed in-house over two years and dubbed Patternizr, automates traditional police leg-work through machine learning to find patterns in crimes. "The existing process was a little bit time intensive," Evan Levine, assistant commissioner of data analytics in the NYPD, said in a podcast, Resoundingly Human. "[Patternizr] gives the analyst a good head start in finding these patterns." Levine said crime patterns are a critical part of police work and this program hones investigators, saving time and money.