The City’s Emergency Policing Incident Command (EPIC) platform uses the latest technology on various platforms to assist with crime pattern analysis and information gathering. The introduction of spatial analysis through operational heat maps has proven to be a valuable tool to collate and visualise data.
EPIC is a technology and communication platform that allows for an integrated approach for the City’s Safety and Security departments and emergency services. One of the main advantages of EPIC is its incident registration and rapid response capabilities, which allows for fast and efficient knowledge sharing.
The EPIC system also assists with situational awareness for the City’s Safety and Security departments, thanks to the development of additional dashboards to visualise data and create insight to the different service priorities such as the national disaster act and lockdown compliance regulations and illegal land invasions.
During the national disaster act, EPIC used spatial dashboarding to accelerate development and support in the Covid-19 response. The development of the dashboards included the utilisation of the City’s Geographical Information System.
In addition to the above, heat maps were developed to visualise activity in a specific area, which allowed for the early detection of trends. The ability to gather, collate and disseminate information provided a useful tool for the city’s enforcement agencies. In this regard, EPIC developed reports of non-compliance with the Covid-19 regulations and these data sets were heat mapped and together with the City’s Vulnerability Viewer, departments used an integrated approach to address challenges in specific and vulnerable areas and responded to the risk.
As part of the City’s ongoing commitment to officer safety, EPIC also developed a mobile panic device that, when activated automatically, sends a panic signal to the Law Enforcement Command Centre as well as the control room of the department whose officer had activated the signal. The signal includes the information known about the unit such as crew, vehicle details, and most importantly, the location.
‘The EPIC system optimises our enforcement and emergency services response along with allowing easy integration between departments when attending to complaints. Through the use of EPIC, we addressed the many challenges, such as Covid-19 non-compliance that we experienced last year. It’s important that our emergency services and enforcement departments have the latest technology to assist them in providing the best possible service to our residents. With EPIC, our departments can adapt to the changing security environment so that we are able to respond rapidly to deal with possible security threats,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith.
The first phase of the EPIC Contravention Project went live in July last year allowing officers to capture fines electronically on the EPIC device. A mobile printer allows the offender to be immediately issued with a fine at the location of the infringement. In the next phase, an additional 13 notice types will be added to the electronic capability of the handheld device. The ability to scan driver licences and vehicle licences in order to get access to driver and vehicle detail is also being built into the application.
Source: City Of Cape Town