April 21, 2025 • 16 mins
Have you ever heard of a Crime Analyst? Join us on the Cape CopCast as we explore their role in solving and preventing crime with Hannah Esham.
She talks to hosts Lisa Greenberg and Officer Mercedes Simonds about how Crime Analysts use the Tactical Intelligence and Analytics Center to work closely with detectives. Hannah offers an insider's perspective on how analysts provide invaluable support to detectives, using tools like license plate readers and social media to track and prevent criminal activity. Her journey, sparked by her pivotal internship with the Clearwater Police Department, highlights the essential role of crime analysts as the silent, strategic forces behind successful investigations.
Discover how sharing intel among agencies and the digital footprints left by suspects are pivotal in today's law enforcement landscape. Through real-world examples, Hannah illustrates how her team operates proactively, distributing critical bulletins and safety information that can make or break an investigation. Explore the fascinating intersection of technology and crime fighting, and learn what it takes to thrive in this dynamic field from someone at the forefront of modern crime analysis.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome back to the Cape Cop cast.
I'm one of your hosts, Lisa.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Greenberg and I'm Officer Mercedes Simons.
Together we make up the PublicAffairs Office and today we have
one of our crime analysts,Hannah, on.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I don't know how to say your last name.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
I'm sorry, eshem.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Eshem.
That was going to be my guess.
So we have crime analyst HannahEshem with us today.
Thank you for coming on andtaking the time.
I know you're busy, so weappreciate it.
To start things off, what is acrime analyst so?
Speaker 3 (00:31):
the easiest way to explain it for someone who does
not know, has no law enforcementexperience, is kind of like a
detective without a badge or agun, in simple terms.
But in more technical terms, weassist in investigations.
We do a lot of background workfor our detectives in locating
(00:54):
people.
Addresses history.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
It's interesting because I think people think of
like a crime occurring and theythink of the detective solving
the case, but there's a lot ofwork that's done by crime
analysts like you behind thescenes that people don't know
about.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Correct.
When we get a new case,obviously the detectives take on
the case and then they'll cometo us and say, hey, what can you
find on this person?
Can I get all of their history,their background information?
And all of that really assiststhem in depending on what the
case is, it can be very helpfulto their investigation and you
(01:29):
use a lot of technology, more sothan anybody else.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
You're the front runners with, like new
technology, basicallyprofessional internet stalkers
and I know there are especiallysome in your unit that would
love that title but like evenjust with social media, you guys
can look up, say, if there'slike a bomb threat or something
like that.
You can look up somebody'ssocial media and find, oh, like
this is their social media andthey actually posted about it
(01:53):
and you guys are really good atfinding that right so you'd be
surprised the amount of stuffpeople post on social media that
ends up being super helpful tous and they had no idea so, but
a lot with like, even hashtagshelp us.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
you know, follow a certain story or say there's an
event and people are using ahashtag for the event.
It helps us monitor socialmedia If we know who's kind of
involved or who's running theevent, depending on what it is,
it can help us monitor anything.
Facebook, instagram, x.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Very cool, and we did have Sergeant Wallace on the
podcast to talk about the TIAC.
Tiac stands for TacticalIntelligence and Analytics
Center.
Correct, what is kind of likeyour day-to-day work when it
comes to being in the TIAC.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
So you kind of never know what you're going to walk
into any given day.
Sometimes it can be supersimple.
We're pulling data for aspecific unit.
For example, I pulled somestats for the Marine unit just
last week, so stuff like thatcan be helpful when it comes to
(03:02):
tracking calls for service.
We help them with that.
If there's an intersection thatyou know has a lot of traffic
accidents, we can pull that dataand give it to the proper
office or unit so they can usethat towards proper planning and
things of that nature.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
It's interesting too, because you kind of have to be
ready at a moment's notice topivot if there's an emergency
situation as well.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Right.
So say we're just pulling data,we could have a call come in
and we automatically have to,you know, make sure all of our
databases are pulled up so wecan do our part to assist the
officers on the road and getinformation out to them as
quickly as we can.
Let's say a swatting callsaying that there's an incident
occurring at the school.
(03:45):
So we have a system, theteachers have a call button.
So if a teacher presses a callbutton, we automatically get the
notification on the screen andit tells us where in the school
the incident is occurring.
And then we could pull up theSRO's body cam footage and get
live footage.
We can pull up cameras in theschool.
(04:07):
We're kind of like eyes in thesky at that point.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Yeah, and the SROs get those notifications as well.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Yes very cool.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
So how did you come about this position?
Is this something that youalways wanted to do?
Do you have a background?
What education do you need tokind of have for it?
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Yeah, so I've been.
I've spoken with a lot of otheranalysts and asked them how did
you get here?
And everyone kind of has adifferent way of getting into
this specific occupation.
I always knew I wanted to be inlaw enforcement at some
capacity.
My dad was a sheriff's deputyfor 30 years.
(04:42):
His dad was a Delaware statetrooper.
So even early on in high schoolI knew I wanted to be in this
capacity.
But I also knew I didn't wantto be a police officer.
I just didn't see that formyself.
I was like, well, maybe I couldgo federal.
(05:02):
I was watching all the TV showsat that time like work for the
behavioral analysis unit and theFBI and I'm like, as I was
going through college I was likeI don't know if that is
actually something that I wantto do.
So I went to USF.
I got my bachelor's degree incriminology and a minor in
psychology.
I graduated there, but duringthat time I did an internship
(05:27):
with the Clearwater PoliceDepartment.
One of my professors at the timewas conducting a burglary study
with the Clearwater PoliceDepartment.
So I was selected to be a partof that project and I would go
to the Clearwater PoliceDepartment twice a week in their
crime analysis unit and I wouldwork directly with their crime
(05:49):
analyst.
So that was my first time beingexposed to the world of crime
analysis.
Even through my studies duringcollege, that had never come up
the term or the position withinthe law enforcement agency.
So I thought it was reallyinteresting and I loved what I
did for that project on theinternship.
Then I graduated, I took acouple years off of school and
(06:12):
then I went back and got mymaster's in forensic psychology.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
That's really cool Super cool.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
On the career side, I started actually working in the
jail at my prior agency and Iworked there for 15 months.
I was a clerk in the jail.
Did you hate it?
No, actually I loved it.
It was my first time reallybeing immersed into an area of
(06:42):
law enforcement like that.
I mean just being exposed tothat side of it.
You know, once someone's beenarrested and incarcerated and I
did a lot of clerical stuff forthe inmates I would assign them
their housing units, theirinmate jobs.
I'd have to go to their pods,have them sign paperwork and
stuff and, shockingly enough, noone ever gave me a problem,
(07:06):
which was nice.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
That's good.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
So you were there for 15 months, yes, and then my
agency, the sheriff, wanted toincorporate an analyst into the
narcotics unit and the wholetime I was working I talked to
the right people and commandstaff and I let them know that
I'm really interested in goinginto some sort of crime analyst
(07:30):
role for the agency.
So I was having thoseconversations, which I think is
really important to do also, ifyou know you want to move up.
So I put myself out there.
My command staff allowed me tospend some time shadowing with
the current crime analysts thatwere already there and had been
there for a long time and had alot of experience and just a lot
(07:52):
of knowledge within the area orthat jurisdiction of that
sheriff's office.
So then I became, on April 20th, 420.
That was my first day in thenarcotics unit.
Oh my gosh, isn't that funny.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
That is funny.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
It was a brand new position.
So that was really eye openingfor me because I was going into
a position that I had neverworked in before and also, kind
of, I was my own teacher.
But it was really a fun time.
I left there because theposition here in Cape Coral
opened and I've lived in CapeCoral so I was like you know
(08:27):
what?
I think I'll just go for it andsee what happens.
And now I'm here and I've beenhere for um since December of
2021.
That's awesome.
We're happy to have you.
I'm coming up on five years ofbeing a crime analyst.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Congrats.
That's incredible, that'sawesome.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
And, I think, a big misconception.
Even with when I tell people Ihave a degree in forensic
psychology or I say I work incrime analysis, my first kind of
response is oh so you doforensics?
It's very different.
It is not forensics.
Forensics is a whole other veryimportant unit in a law
(09:06):
enforcement agency and theyshould get all of their credit
in crime analysis.
While it's been around, it isstill technically a newer
concept in a law enforcementagency, so I think once you know
it's been around for a littlebit longer, I think people will
(09:26):
start hearing that term moreoften and have a better idea of
what we actually do.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
It seems like forensics is after a crime
occurred, right, they're thepeople that study that crime,
whereas crime analysts oftenwork a lot with prevention too.
Right, Like you're looking atstats, you're looking at
information, you're trackingdifferent things to also help
with crime prevention.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Right.
So we try to be as proactive aswe possibly can.
That's why intel sharingamongst surrounding agencies is
so important, and that is,honestly, at least 25% of our
day.
We get all these differentbulletins from different
agencies with like attempt toidentify situational awareness.
So they Lee County Sheriff'sOffice just had a string of
(10:09):
burglaries and they might becoming into our jurisdiction.
Yeah, and we know their MO justbecause Lee County was willing
to share that information withus, which is super helpful.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Yeah, we see emails all the time that you send out
with bulletins and things likethat of just awareness, or you
know people that we're lookinginto with photos and address,
what kind of car they drive, andwe've had officers very
recently be like recognize thisguy from the bulletin and
they're able to like stop them,detain them and then had an
arrest made out of it we lovewhen that happens, so that's
(10:44):
yeah that's the goal like that'swhat you.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
That's why we send out those emails that we hope
everybody reads, and a lot of it.
I tell them.
I'm like you might overlook abulletin, but it could be an
officer safety bulletin andthat's something you need to
know when you're heading out toyour shift for the night.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
So yeah, that's another thing that you do is is
officer safety bulletin.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
That's a big part of our job too.
So same thing with the intelsharing.
Or if we have someone who hascommitted a certain crime or,
for example, made known threatsto law enforcement officers,
even if it's two counties away,we still want our officers to
know about that person, becausewe've looked into that person
(11:26):
and we can see on certainsoftwares that we have databases
that they do travel into ourcounty and you might run into
them.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
You might not, but we still want you to be able to
have that information for yoursafety right and everything
bleeds over all the time, likethere is literally only just a
bridge between us and fort myersand there's not even a bridge
between us and north fort myersso all of that stuff bleeds over
it's a mile away.
You can easily travel.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
If we have a resident that lives in Cape Coral but
Lee County had a run in withthem, we want to know about it.
Just because it didn't happenhere but they live here, we want
to know.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
For sure.
So what kind of tools do youuse on a daily basis to
accomplish what you accomplish?
Speaker 3 (12:13):
So we have quite a few databases that give us
access to people's backgrounds,their criminal histories,
address and vehicle information,lpr systems.
What does that stand for?
The license plate reader system.
So we have everywhere in thecountry, not just here, there's
(12:34):
license plate readers so youcould be traveling and you could
come across a camera thatcatches your tag.
So if we have a known offenderand we know the tag of their
vehicle, we can run their tagnumber in certain databases and,
you know, be able to track them.
And if it's something wherethere's a threat to others or a
(12:57):
threat to themselves, that'sreally important to know where
someone's traveling or headed to.
Obviously, all these databasesyou have to have a purpose for
utilizing them.
So there has to already be aninvestigation going.
There's lots of rules when itcomes to using these databases
investigation going.
(13:17):
There's lots of rules when itcomes to using these databases.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
they're so important for protecting the people, right
?
Speaker 3 (13:21):
so you can't just willy-nilly it no, you can't
look up any ex-boyfriends, butyou, you'd be surprised,
actually, how much informationwe can get with just a google
search too.
So sometimes that can be, we'llhave run everything we can in
all these databases and thenit's like, let me just pop it
into Google.
And then it's like, oh, that'sexactly what I was looking for.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
You can find probably just about anything on the
internet.
How do you use social media tokind of track people down and
figure out what's going on?
Speaker 3 (13:52):
It's different depending on the case.
So if I, so if I need to figureout who's an associate, the
first thing I'm going to do isgo through their followers.
You'd also be surprised howmuch information you can gain
just from a picture that wasposted.
You can try to figure out whereit was taken.
If you know it was taken in aparking lot and you can see the
(14:13):
mall in the background say, okay, I know he was there there.
If they're taking a pictureleaned up against their car and
I was not quite sure what kindof car they were driving at
first, but they just posted apicture with their car.
Now I know or if you know, whatthe inside of their residence
or their friends residence lookslike and they take a picture
and they post it yeah and peopleare happy to post pictures of
(14:36):
things.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Right.
Well, we're in this digital agewhere you can't get away from
it.
You have some sort of digitalfootprint, no matter how hard
you try not to.
So you know, between socialmedia, between Google and the
internet, between cameras beingeverywhere, there's no way that
people are just completelyoffline.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Right, everyone likes to check in to locations.
I mean, I do it myself, so onlaw enforcement side it can be
super helpful.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
For sure, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Currently you work with a couple people, but you
guys are trying to grow the unit.
What, ultimately, are you guystrying to make everything like,
look like essentially?
Speaker 3 (15:16):
So we are supposed to be getting a whole new video
wall system in the t-act shortly.
We'll have more screens formore of those special databases
that we use and camerasthroughout the city and the
schools, which is just soimportant nowadays.
We are in the process of hiringanother analyst.
The city's growingexponentially and I think the
(15:38):
agency is following suit withthat, so we are looking to get
more analysts.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Yeah, I think that's the whole theme of kind of a lot
of what we've been talkingabout on all the podcasts is
just the overall growth thatwe're seeing.
So it's not just your unit,it's every unit.
But as patrol grows, you guysalso have to grow to keep up
with the need.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
There's lots of different things that can be
done with our skill set andwould be really beneficial to
the agency and the city as wegrow.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Awesome.
Well, thank you so much forcoming on.
We appreciate you being here.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
I know I didn't even touch on probably half the
things, but it kind of gives youa little glimpse of what we do
For sure.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
We appreciate it, and thank you so much for joining
us for today's episode and we'llsee you next time.
Have a good one, take care.
Welcome back to the Cape Cop cast.
I'm one of your hosts, Lisa.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Greenberg and I'm Officer Mercedes Simons.
Together we make up the PublicAffairs Office and today we have
one of our crime analysts,Hannah, on.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I don't know how to say your last name.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
I'm sorry, eshem.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Eshem.
That was going to be my guess.
So we have crime analyst HannahEshem with us today.
Thank you for coming on andtaking the time.
I know you're busy, so weappreciate it.
To start things off, what is acrime analyst so?
Speaker 3 (00:31):
the easiest way to explain it for someone who does
not know, has no law enforcementexperience, is kind of like a
detective without a badge or agun, in simple terms.
But in more technical terms, weassist in investigations.
We do a lot of background workfor our detectives in locating
(00:54):
people.
Addresses history.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
It's interesting because I think people think of
like a crime occurring and theythink of the detective solving
the case, but there's a lot ofwork that's done by crime
analysts like you behind thescenes that people don't know
about.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Correct.
When we get a new case,obviously the detectives take on
the case and then they'll cometo us and say, hey, what can you
find on this person?
Can I get all of their history,their background information?
And all of that really assiststhem in depending on what the
case is, it can be very helpfulto their investigation and you
(01:29):
use a lot of technology, more sothan anybody else.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
You're the front runners with, like new
technology, basicallyprofessional internet stalkers
and I know there are especiallysome in your unit that would
love that title but like evenjust with social media, you guys
can look up, say, if there'slike a bomb threat or something
like that.
You can look up somebody'ssocial media and find, oh, like
this is their social media andthey actually posted about it
(01:53):
and you guys are really good atfinding that right so you'd be
surprised the amount of stuffpeople post on social media that
ends up being super helpful tous and they had no idea so, but
a lot with like, even hashtagshelp us.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
you know, follow a certain story or say there's an
event and people are using ahashtag for the event.
It helps us monitor socialmedia If we know who's kind of
involved or who's running theevent, depending on what it is,
it can help us monitor anything.
Facebook, instagram, x.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Very cool, and we did have Sergeant Wallace on the
podcast to talk about the TIAC.
Tiac stands for TacticalIntelligence and Analytics
Center.
Correct, what is kind of likeyour day-to-day work when it
comes to being in the TIAC.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
So you kind of never know what you're going to walk
into any given day.
Sometimes it can be supersimple.
We're pulling data for aspecific unit.
For example, I pulled somestats for the Marine unit just
last week, so stuff like thatcan be helpful when it comes to
(03:02):
tracking calls for service.
We help them with that.
If there's an intersection thatyou know has a lot of traffic
accidents, we can pull that dataand give it to the proper
office or unit so they can usethat towards proper planning and
things of that nature.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
It's interesting too, because you kind of have to be
ready at a moment's notice topivot if there's an emergency
situation as well.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Right.
So say we're just pulling data,we could have a call come in
and we automatically have to,you know, make sure all of our
databases are pulled up so wecan do our part to assist the
officers on the road and getinformation out to them as
quickly as we can.
Let's say a swatting callsaying that there's an incident
occurring at the school.
(03:45):
So we have a system, theteachers have a call button.
So if a teacher presses a callbutton, we automatically get the
notification on the screen andit tells us where in the school
the incident is occurring.
And then we could pull up theSRO's body cam footage and get
live footage.
We can pull up cameras in theschool.
(04:07):
We're kind of like eyes in thesky at that point.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Yeah, and the SROs get those notifications as well.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Yes very cool.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
So how did you come about this position?
Is this something that youalways wanted to do?
Do you have a background?
What education do you need tokind of have for it?
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Yeah, so I've been.
I've spoken with a lot of otheranalysts and asked them how did
you get here?
And everyone kind of has adifferent way of getting into
this specific occupation.
I always knew I wanted to be inlaw enforcement at some
capacity.
My dad was a sheriff's deputyfor 30 years.
(04:42):
His dad was a Delaware statetrooper.
So even early on in high schoolI knew I wanted to be in this
capacity.
But I also knew I didn't wantto be a police officer.
I just didn't see that formyself.
I was like, well, maybe I couldgo federal.
(05:02):
I was watching all the TV showsat that time like work for the
behavioral analysis unit and theFBI and I'm like, as I was
going through college I was likeI don't know if that is
actually something that I wantto do.
So I went to USF.
I got my bachelor's degree incriminology and a minor in
psychology.
I graduated there, but duringthat time I did an internship
(05:27):
with the Clearwater PoliceDepartment.
One of my professors at the timewas conducting a burglary study
with the Clearwater PoliceDepartment.
So I was selected to be a partof that project and I would go
to the Clearwater PoliceDepartment twice a week in their
crime analysis unit and I wouldwork directly with their crime
(05:49):
analyst.
So that was my first time beingexposed to the world of crime
analysis.
Even through my studies duringcollege, that had never come up
the term or the position withinthe law enforcement agency.
So I thought it was reallyinteresting and I loved what I
did for that project on theinternship.
Then I graduated, I took acouple years off of school and
(06:12):
then I went back and got mymaster's in forensic psychology.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
That's really cool Super cool.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
On the career side, I started actually working in the
jail at my prior agency and Iworked there for 15 months.
I was a clerk in the jail.
Did you hate it?
No, actually I loved it.
It was my first time reallybeing immersed into an area of
(06:42):
law enforcement like that.
I mean just being exposed tothat side of it.
You know, once someone's beenarrested and incarcerated and I
did a lot of clerical stuff forthe inmates I would assign them
their housing units, theirinmate jobs.
I'd have to go to their pods,have them sign paperwork and
stuff and, shockingly enough, noone ever gave me a problem,
(07:06):
which was nice.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
That's good.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
So you were there for 15 months, yes, and then my
agency, the sheriff, wanted toincorporate an analyst into the
narcotics unit and the wholetime I was working I talked to
the right people and commandstaff and I let them know that
I'm really interested in goinginto some sort of crime analyst
(07:30):
role for the agency.
So I was having thoseconversations, which I think is
really important to do also, ifyou know you want to move up.
So I put myself out there.
My command staff allowed me tospend some time shadowing with
the current crime analysts thatwere already there and had been
there for a long time and had alot of experience and just a lot
(07:52):
of knowledge within the area orthat jurisdiction of that
sheriff's office.
So then I became, on April 20th, 420.
That was my first day in thenarcotics unit.
Oh my gosh, isn't that funny.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
That is funny.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
It was a brand new position.
So that was really eye openingfor me because I was going into
a position that I had neverworked in before and also, kind
of, I was my own teacher.
But it was really a fun time.
I left there because theposition here in Cape Coral
opened and I've lived in CapeCoral so I was like you know
(08:27):
what?
I think I'll just go for it andsee what happens.
And now I'm here and I've beenhere for um since December of
2021.
That's awesome.
We're happy to have you.
I'm coming up on five years ofbeing a crime analyst.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Congrats.
That's incredible, that'sawesome.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
And, I think, a big misconception.
Even with when I tell people Ihave a degree in forensic
psychology or I say I work incrime analysis, my first kind of
response is oh so you doforensics?
It's very different.
It is not forensics.
Forensics is a whole other veryimportant unit in a law
(09:06):
enforcement agency and theyshould get all of their credit
in crime analysis.
While it's been around, it isstill technically a newer
concept in a law enforcementagency, so I think once you know
it's been around for a littlebit longer, I think people will
(09:26):
start hearing that term moreoften and have a better idea of
what we actually do.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
It seems like forensics is after a crime
occurred, right, they're thepeople that study that crime,
whereas crime analysts oftenwork a lot with prevention too.
Right, Like you're looking atstats, you're looking at
information, you're trackingdifferent things to also help
with crime prevention.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Right.
So we try to be as proactive aswe possibly can.
That's why intel sharingamongst surrounding agencies is
so important, and that is,honestly, at least 25% of our
day.
We get all these differentbulletins from different
agencies with like attempt toidentify situational awareness.
So they Lee County Sheriff'sOffice just had a string of
(10:09):
burglaries and they might becoming into our jurisdiction.
Yeah, and we know their MO justbecause Lee County was willing
to share that information withus, which is super helpful.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Yeah, we see emails all the time that you send out
with bulletins and things likethat of just awareness, or you
know people that we're lookinginto with photos and address,
what kind of car they drive, andwe've had officers very
recently be like recognize thisguy from the bulletin and
they're able to like stop them,detain them and then had an
arrest made out of it we lovewhen that happens, so that's
(10:44):
yeah that's the goal like that'swhat you.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
That's why we send out those emails that we hope
everybody reads, and a lot of it.
I tell them.
I'm like you might overlook abulletin, but it could be an
officer safety bulletin andthat's something you need to
know when you're heading out toyour shift for the night.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
So yeah, that's another thing that you do is is
officer safety bulletin.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
That's a big part of our job too.
So same thing with the intelsharing.
Or if we have someone who hascommitted a certain crime or,
for example, made known threatsto law enforcement officers,
even if it's two counties away,we still want our officers to
know about that person, becausewe've looked into that person
(11:26):
and we can see on certainsoftwares that we have databases
that they do travel into ourcounty and you might run into
them.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
You might not, but we still want you to be able to
have that information for yoursafety right and everything
bleeds over all the time, likethere is literally only just a
bridge between us and fort myersand there's not even a bridge
between us and north fort myersso all of that stuff bleeds over
it's a mile away.
You can easily travel.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
If we have a resident that lives in Cape Coral but
Lee County had a run in withthem, we want to know about it.
Just because it didn't happenhere but they live here, we want
to know.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
For sure.
So what kind of tools do youuse on a daily basis to
accomplish what you accomplish?
Speaker 3 (12:13):
So we have quite a few databases that give us
access to people's backgrounds,their criminal histories,
address and vehicle information,lpr systems.
What does that stand for?
The license plate reader system.
So we have everywhere in thecountry, not just here, there's
(12:34):
license plate readers so youcould be traveling and you could
come across a camera thatcatches your tag.
So if we have a known offenderand we know the tag of their
vehicle, we can run their tagnumber in certain databases and,
you know, be able to track them.
And if it's something wherethere's a threat to others or a
(12:57):
threat to themselves, that'sreally important to know where
someone's traveling or headed to.
Obviously, all these databasesyou have to have a purpose for
utilizing them.
So there has to already be aninvestigation going.
There's lots of rules when itcomes to using these databases
investigation going.
(13:17):
There's lots of rules when itcomes to using these databases.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
they're so important for protecting the people, right
?
Speaker 3 (13:21):
so you can't just willy-nilly it no, you can't
look up any ex-boyfriends, butyou, you'd be surprised,
actually, how much informationwe can get with just a google
search too.
So sometimes that can be, we'llhave run everything we can in
all these databases and thenit's like, let me just pop it
into Google.
And then it's like, oh, that'sexactly what I was looking for.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
You can find probably just about anything on the
internet.
How do you use social media tokind of track people down and
figure out what's going on?
Speaker 3 (13:52):
It's different depending on the case.
So if I, so if I need to figureout who's an associate, the
first thing I'm going to do isgo through their followers.
You'd also be surprised howmuch information you can gain
just from a picture that wasposted.
You can try to figure out whereit was taken.
If you know it was taken in aparking lot and you can see the
(14:13):
mall in the background say, okay, I know he was there there.
If they're taking a pictureleaned up against their car and
I was not quite sure what kindof car they were driving at
first, but they just posted apicture with their car.
Now I know or if you know, whatthe inside of their residence
or their friends residence lookslike and they take a picture
and they post it yeah and peopleare happy to post pictures of
(14:36):
things.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Right.
Well, we're in this digital agewhere you can't get away from
it.
You have some sort of digitalfootprint, no matter how hard
you try not to.
So you know, between socialmedia, between Google and the
internet, between cameras beingeverywhere, there's no way that
people are just completelyoffline.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Right, everyone likes to check in to locations.
I mean, I do it myself, so onlaw enforcement side it can be
super helpful.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
For sure, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Currently you work with a couple people, but you
guys are trying to grow the unit.
What, ultimately, are you guystrying to make everything like,
look like essentially?
Speaker 3 (15:16):
So we are supposed to be getting a whole new video
wall system in the t-act shortly.
We'll have more screens formore of those special databases
that we use and camerasthroughout the city and the
schools, which is just soimportant nowadays.
We are in the process of hiringanother analyst.
The city's growingexponentially and I think the
(15:38):
agency is following suit withthat, so we are looking to get
more analysts.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Yeah, I think that's the whole theme of kind of a lot
of what we've been talkingabout on all the podcasts is
just the overall growth thatwe're seeing.
So it's not just your unit,it's every unit.
But as patrol grows, you guysalso have to grow to keep up
with the need.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
There's lots of different things that can be
done with our skill set andwould be really beneficial to
the agency and the city as wegrow.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Awesome.
Well, thank you so much forcoming on.
We appreciate you being here.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
I know I didn't even touch on probably half the
things, but it kind of gives youa little glimpse of what we do
For sure.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
We appreciate it, and thank you so much for joining
us for today's episode and we'llsee you next time.
Have a good one, take care.
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