September 15, 2025 • 34 mins
Episode: 00284 Released on September 15, 2025 Description: In this episode of Analyst Talk with Jason Elder, Jason catches up with Dawn Reeby to dive into the world of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and their role in professionalizing crime analysis. Dawn explains how KPIs can help analysts move beyond “bean counting” and instead measure meaningful impact, build strong infrastructures, and define what success truly looks like in law enforcement analysis. From creating portfolios and roadmaps to streamlining workflows and crafting clear elevator speeches, Dawn shares practical ways analysts can document their value, enhance productivity, and transform data into actionable intelligence. We also take a moment to congratulate Dale Harris on receiving the IACA Lifetime Achievement Award for his pioneering contributions to the field. 🎧 Listen, share, and keep talking! [Note: Description produced by ChatGPT.] Get to know more about Dawn by listening to her episode on Analyst Talk With Jason Elder: https://www.leapodcasts.com/e/atwje-dawn-reeby-the-ceo-analyst/
Name Drops: Sean Bair (00:17:34) Related Links: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dawnreeby_lawenforcement-kpi-analytics-activity-7339683314716336128-rLJv https://dawnreeby.podia.com/ Sean Bair’s Hiring Guide: https://www.leapodcasts.com/p/hiring-guide/
https://www.leapodcasts.com/e/dale-harris-the-innovator/ https://www.leapodcasts.com/e/lori-frank-the-assertive-analyst/ Association(s) Mentioned: Vendor(s) Mentioned: Contact: Dawn@excellenceinanalytics.com, https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawnreeby/ Transcript: https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/6k46x5dk7hjtkrvt/DawnReeby04_transcript.pdf Podcast Writer: Podcast Researcher: Theme Song: Written and Recorded by The Rough & Tumble. Find more of their music at www.theroughandtumble.com. Logo: Designed by Kyle McMullen. Please visit www.moderntype.com for any printable business forms and planners. Podcast Email: leapodcasts@gmail.com Podcast Webpage: www.leapodcasts.com Podcast Twitter: @leapodcasts
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(00:01):
LEA podcasts.
Would like to take a moment tocongratulate Dale Harris on his
IACA Lifetime Achievement Award.
Dale was the second president and oneof the founders to the association.
We're gonna take a moment hereand have Lori Frank, one of his
longtime friends and employees talkabout his accomplishments before
(00:25):
we get to this week's episode,catching Up with Dawn Reebe.
Please join me in congratulatingDale Harris on receiving the
IACA'S Lifetime Achievement Award.
I had the incredible honor ofbeing mentored by Dale Harris when
I was a brand new crime analyst.
He is not only a pioneer in our field.
(00:45):
But also an unparalleled teacherwho recognized the power of
data to transform policing.
Dale founded Corona Solutions with thesingular vision of helping agencies
optimize their patrol operations.
Through his company, he has empoweredover 150 agencies, allowing analysts
to see the direct and fruitfulimpact of their work as patrol
officers gain more time for proactivepolicing and community engagement.
(01:09):
It is my great honor to read thisstatement from a true leader.
My friend and former mentor Dale Harris.
I am Dale Harris, past president of IACA.
I served from 1981 to 1984 when a groupof us saw the need for a professional
association to learn from each other andpromote the concept of crime analysis.
(01:33):
I found the IACA to be a great helpin learning and sharing new concepts
and practices in what was then anew concept in law enforcement.
Of course, at that time, nearlyeverything was done with pencil and
paper and maybe an electronic calculator.
Typewriters and telephones ruledsince we had no computers and of
course, no software to assist us.
(01:55):
We drew our charts and maps by hand.
However, we immediately saw theneed for technology in this field.
While I was president, most agencies werein the early stages of computerization.
One benefit of the IACA was theability to share goals and plans
for collecting and managing data.
From those early conferences,we were able to visit agencies
(02:18):
across the country, receiving andsharing tips and best practices.
I am grateful to the members past andpresent who have moved the science
of Crime analysis forward, and Iexpect them to continue doing so.
If you wanna find out more about DaleHarris and Lori Frank, check out the
show notes for a link to their episodeson Analyst Talk with Jason Elder.
(02:42):
Now back to the show.
Welcome to Analyst Talk with Jason Elder.
It's like coffee with an analyst,or it could be whiskey with an
analyst reading a spreadsheet,linking crime events, identifying a
series, and getting the latest scoopon association news and training.
So please don't beat that analystand join us as we define the law
enforcement analysis profession.
One episode at a time.
How are we doing?
(03:02):
Alice?
Jason Elder here with another LEA podcast.
Deep dive.
Catching up with Dawn Dawn Reebe.
How we doing?
Hey Jason.
I'm doing great.
Thank you for having me here again today.
I appreciate you.
I appreciate you.
How was the summer?
That was
a really great summer.
I actually spent a couple ofweeks down in Miami working
with their analysts over there.
(03:24):
It was doing patternanalysis is ton of fun.
Got upside down on my paddle board.
So that was a lot of fun too, and, andjust really been enjoying the summer.
The weather's been fantastic.
How about yourself?
Yeah, the same.
Well after I melted in June, but mostof July it's been a change in, in the
weather here, it's starting to feellike fall, which, which is just not
(03:46):
as hot, but it's more comfortable.
Yeah, I know I was down your way inthe la June and July July rather in
August, and it, it was, it was toasty.
It was 90 day, which is not too toasty.
Right.
Yeah, it is definitely toasty.
So, yeah.
But hey, I don't know, a couple moremonths then it'll be winter and we'll
(04:06):
be complaining that it's too cold.
Right.
Exactly.
Exactly.
All right.
Very good.
Well, what are we talking about today?
Yeah, so today we're talkingabout the concept of KPIs or
key performance indicators.
How we measure success, how we you know,look at how analysis really influences
our police agencies and kind of putsome professional framework around what
(04:26):
that looks like and what that means.
All right.
So, and that's a term that I don't know.
How well it's known in the lawenforcement analysis realm.
I, I don't remember actuallyseeing the concept of KPI until
I actually left law enforcement.
Let's first start with definingthe KPIs a little bit just to
(04:48):
give our listeners an idea.
Yeah.
And so you're right, so KPIsreally exist in the private sector.
They're key performance indicators, whichbasically is how you measure success.
Right.
So it, it puts a professional kind ofbox around what does success look like.
So, for a business, so in my business,you know, when I went to business
school, we had to define KPIs interms of what, you know, what would
(05:11):
make the business seem successful.
Is it, you know, the amountof clients you serve?
Is it the amount of income that comes in?
Is it the amount of books you write?
Like what, what are your KPIs, right?
How do you measure success?
And so when I started thinking about this.
You know, I realized it reallywasn't in law enforcement analysis.
We never talk about KPIs.
(05:31):
We always talk about ourselves ashelpers for patrol and detectives
and, and chiefs and executives.
And as you know, one of my biggest missionis to really build crime analysis, legacy.
Do this right, do it,build it in a way that is.
Can be replicated, is professional thatwe are upleveling the entire field, right?
(05:52):
And so how do we uplevel the entire field?
Well, we craft out whatsuccess actually looks like.
So that we can then goand achieve that success.
So that's kind of how it, I'm,I'm, I was thinking about moving
it over into public sector.
Yeah.
And it's, this is one that topic that'snear and dear to my heart because
(06:12):
on the podcast for, for those thathave been around the while, and one
of the questions I like to ask is,what are you surprised by That, law
enforcement analysis hasn't figured outby now, this is a good one for that.
'cause I would've thought 20 yearsago that we would've had more more
(06:33):
KPIs, more more well-defined success.
For not only the analyst,but the analytical unit.
And I, but I, I think that it's not onlyjust LEA, I think it's LE as a whole too,
because it seems like we're still beancounting, you know, the call calls for
service response time and the number ofhomicides and the number of shootings.
(06:57):
It seems like to me that the, thewhole kitten caboodle is behind.
Yeah.
I mean, you think about it, if you becomea chief, you wanna reduce crime, right?
Or you wanna have lesssocial harm or less crashes.
And so so what does it mean for us, right?
So mm-hmm.
Crime analysis, we really occupya, a super unique position, right?
(07:18):
So we provide that criticalintel and insights, but how
do we measure that, right?
Yeah.
We support, but we don'tdirectly control operations.
Like we can say, Hey.
If the suspect continues thisbehavior, they're likely to hit in
this downtown area between, let'ssay zero 200 and zero 800 hours.
But the question becomes doesanyone actually listen to that?
(07:38):
We don't, we don't alwaysfully control the operations.
Mm-hmm.
An agency can have an analyst, but that,a, the agency may not be data driven.
Right.
So how do we, how do we account for that?
You know, thinking about our workinfluences the decisions, but it
doesn't actually determine the finalsteps there's or the final results.
There's so many other variables.
There's economics.
(07:58):
There's how many officers you have.
There's so many things thatimpact that final result that
we really can't say crime.
Increase or decrease crime or social harm.
Right.
And the other key thing here isthat we have to maintain objectivity
and s like in alignment withsupporting the agency goals.
(08:19):
So in business we talk aboutprocess impact and or process goals.
And impact goals.
Like the impact goals for a policeagency would be getting crime lower.
But what about the process goals?
Are we actually utilizingdata-driven efforts?
Are we, you know, utilizinganalysis the way that it should be?
Or do we have a bunch of analystsinputting data or producing great
(08:43):
reports that are never utilizedor, or things of that nature?
So this is a very important topic if wewanna professionalize the field, which
is, I know, a goal of yours as well.
Yeah.
So I guess, so do we first need to define.
What I mean, I guess, and you didit in a way, like what, what success
looks like for, an analyst or.
(09:04):
And a unit, because I think that there'sdefinitely some discussion there and my
head automatically jumps at way aheadto think of like, okay, how do you
document, how do you secure all thisdata to be able to effectively measure.
Outcomes.
Yep.
Yeah.
Well, first we have to definewhat that would look like, right?
(09:24):
Mm-hmm.
So a couple of things I would say, likemaybe some, you know, things that we
wanna be aware of, we don't wanna do,we don't wanna have outcome fixation.
We don't wanna rely solely onstatistics to indicate whether
or not our work as analysts isquality analytical work, right?
So that's the first thing.
We wanna hold analysts responsible for thedecisions that they make, like, you know,
(09:45):
how they're producing a quality analysis.
But not necessarily hold themaccountable for the decisions that
the agency makes around analysis.
What I've seen some agencies do again,talking about some pitfalls in measuring.
KPIs or successes isthey talk about reports.
They say , we're gonna measure ourquality, or we're gonna measure our,
(10:05):
our key performance indicator wouldbe producing one bulletin a week.
Mm-hmm.
Or one comp set report a month.
Or, you know, 10 requeststhat is not, that is not KPI.
Mm-hmm.
That is bean counting.
We are just bean countingcrime analysis activities.
Right?
Yeah.
And so we need to move away from the, thequantity and really dive into the quality.
(10:31):
We don't wanna incentivizethat junk analysis, which
just helps analysts, you know.
Create these narratives ratherthan the objective truth.
So, so we don't wanna talk about,we wanna reduce crime, right?
Like, of course an agency wants todo that, but instead we wanna talk
about as an analytical function,what the role is in that process.
(10:52):
And then that is gonnahelp us indicate success.
All right?
What's a, what's a good example of that?
Just drive this point home.
So I would say, . There, there'sa couple of great examples, right?
So if I'm an analyst, I'd wantto look at maybe some of the you
know, products that I produce.
How many of them result in somethingpositive when it is used, right?
(11:14):
So, so you kind of seelike the difference there.
You can't just say, result in somethingpositive, you have to really say
like, when it's actually used, right?
Mm-hmm.
And so.
You know, so you can talkabout the quality of products.
You might have some kind of surveythat goes out to the agency that
says, you know, is, is the analyticalunit responding, you know, within
(11:36):
24 hours to reports or requests thatcould be responded to in 24 hours.
Right?
And so we can documentthose and write those down.
For instance, like a clear report,a, you know, looking at the
crime at a school that should bea ten second turnaround, right?
You should have a queryset up where that is.
An easy turnaround.
And so it should not take four days forthat to, for that to get kicked out.
(11:58):
Right?
And so we can use some time parametersaround KPIs like that to really say,
okay, well easy requests should,you know, and we can quantify easy.
Mm-hmm.
Should take less than 24 hours.
And what does that actually look like?
You know, so, yeah.
So what about you?
Do you have any KPIs at your agencyright now where you're just like, yeah,
this is, this is how we measure success?
(12:19):
So I, I think about that in terms ofthat, and of course, I'm not in law
enforcement anymore, so I think aboutall the different KPIs we have , at
work,, it's interesting because it,there you hit the nail on the head
in terms of the time component.
It's like there's a lot of different timesthat are captured because time is money.
(12:42):
Yep.
So, and so that, that's another one.
And, you know, and then some ofthem, I, I, one of the things that
work is, is just get more, like someof them are just abstract, right?
Mm-hmm.
And I didn't, I don't like thoseas, as much because it's like,
did you help Vanderbiltbe, a great workplace.
(13:03):
I was like, I was like, yes.
I was not a jerk to my coworkers.
Right, right, right.
So some of them, some of 'em get kindof abstract, but, some of 'em, like
these long-term projects and you'reright, I assisted here, I help there.
And then if I'm trying to, okay.
Trying to write down, how did Imake a difference on this project?
(13:25):
It do, it is tough.
Yeah.
It, it's, it's tough tosit there and quantify.
Mm-hmm.
How I impacted it.
It is, again, I've always had thatstruggle with creating resumes too.
How do I put on a resume what I do andhow do I make it more actionable terms as
opposed to assisted and helped and, andthose, those less punchy words, right?
(13:49):
Yes,
exactly.
And I think you can, you know, youcan say things like, we built out
the policies and procedures for thea key KPI for a crime analysis unit.
Could certainly be that youdevelop the infrastructure, right?
So what does thatinfrastructure look like?
Well, we have a well positioned vision ofwhat the analytical unit is going to be.
(14:09):
We have a policy on how the agencyproperly utilizes an analytical function.
We have, you know, our procedures alldocumented so that when we onboard
somebody, they have a spot to go towhere they click on a button and they
see how to generate every single report,every single analysis, you know, what
data source it comes from what maybeany templates that you use, right?
(14:33):
So you could say one of theKPIs could certainly be that
infrastructure, that that'ssomething that's well-defined, right?
Mm-hmm.
And so you could, I teach a classthrough the ISCA right now on for
supervisors on this very thing.
Like what is, what is theproper infrastructure?
So we talk about them, theproper vision, not the vision.
(14:54):
For the agency, but the visionfor the analytical unit and how
developing that is a key performanceindicator if you develop it.
Fantastic checkbox, right?
Mm-hmm.
And if it's implemented and accepted bythe agency a double check mark, right?
So there's two kind of indicators there.
We talk about developing roadmapsfor all of our an analysts, so that.
(15:14):
You know, we know exactly what skillsyou want that analyst to develop.
Do you want them to be excellent at Excel?
Well, who cares?
Why?
What do you want them to do with Excel?
What's the purpose of it?
Right?
Mm-hmm.
Do you want them to createplatforms that are usable for, you
know, for your officers, right?
Maybe some slicers or switchboardsor things of that nature?
(15:36):
Why to ease.
Data access from, from the field.
So a key performance indicator wouldn'tbe, my analyst knows how to use Excel.
A key performance indicator couldbe that they've created some kind
of tool that makes it easier forofficers to access or for supervisors
to access data from the field.
(15:56):
Right?
And so.
You know, so when we develop thatinfrastructure and when we develop
those roadmaps of what skills do wewant our analysts to have and why
it's the, and why that becomes ourkey performance indicator, right?
Mm-hmm.
So other key performance indicatorsI could think about relative to
legacy would be evaluation forms.
If you currently don't haveevaluation forms that mirror
(16:20):
your roadmaps for your analysts.
Which are kind of the skills you wantthem to develop and why, then they'll
never know what success looks like.
Probably 80% of the agencies thatI work with, whether through the
ISCA or private consulting, don'thave roadmaps for their analysts.
None of them know what itlooks like to be successful.
And so we, you know, immediately developthose roadmaps and say, if you're a
(16:45):
an entry level analyst, these are theskills you need to have and here's why.
If you're an intermediate,here are the skills and why.
And so forth, right?
And these are the actionsthat we want you to do.
So the, the process of that in thebeginning could be, could actually
be those key performance indicatorsfor an analytical unit portfolios.
The fact of all analysts havinga portfolio that showcases.
(17:08):
Their analytical products, the successes,the challenges, how they overcame it,
how they assisted the, the developmentof those portfolios could be a, a
key performance indicator that youfill your portfolio with at least.
You know, 10 successes a year, right?
Yeah.
So you can have unique key performanceindicators that really highlight
the impact of what an analyticalfunction does at an agency.
(17:30):
Yeah.
And I think I'm required now whenanybody uses portfolio on the show
to mention Sean Bair, because he's abig proponent of portfolios mm-hmm.
In the interview process.
Absolutely.
I mean, of course.
You know, so, so we have a templatewith our, our folks on our, on our
site to use, which is pretty generic.
It's pretty basic.
But you don't just grab, please, ifyou're listening to this, don't just grab
(17:52):
reports and stick them in your portfolio.
Mm-hmm.
You wanna go through anapproval process, right?
Mm-hmm.
To remove, you know, youremove your products or redact
them or whatever it might be.
But Sean's right.
You know, we really need toshow people what we've done
and what impact we've created.
And that really is the key word impact.
Mm-hmm.
Not things that we do.
No one cares that you developed Comsat.
(18:13):
No one cares that youdeveloped a bulletin.
What we care about was, you know,what's the impact of Comsat and what's
the impact of those bulletins, right?
Mm-hmm.
So another key performanceindicator for an analyst might be.
You know, the percentage ofanalytical pro products that directly
contributed to cases weird, right?
So, so if you produce a bulletinthat no one reads, then who cares?
(18:34):
Yeah.
But if you're producing a bulletin thatyou discover that it was utilized in
case clearance, you know, that creates.
That concept of impact.
Yeah.
And that, I think you might havementioned it, but that's where
surveys could come in handy, right?
Yeah.
Because how you would document thatis, I, you could have the analysts
go out and a ask personally, but haveat the end of an investigation or a
(18:58):
project, if there is an after action.
Survey.
That would be something that couldbe for the whole team of, okay,
the analyst produced X, Y, and Z.
What was your opinion, or , how doyou feel that it impacted the project?
Absolutely.
So there's lots of different ways tomeasure key performance indicators,
(19:19):
and certainly a survey maybeonce a year would be helpful to
really gain some of that feedback.
And maybe it's a matter of it'sanecdotal, you know, maybe it's
sitting in a roll call and saying,Hey, you know, was this helpful?
Or talking with a detective andsaying, Hey, was this helping?
Getting some feedback.
I see a lot of.
Really sitting in their officenot knowing if anything has been
read or anything has impact.
(19:39):
And so we really wanna be sure that we'reclear about what does success look like?
The, if you're an agency rightnow that says success looks like
the, the analyst produces Comsat.
Well, heck, I have seen Compat.
I, I've recently worked with an analyst.
His comp set was four to six pages long.
To me, that's not success,
and to me that's still small.
(20:01):
I still, it was small.
I, I've seen hundreds.
I've seen hundreds ofpages on a weekly basis.
Right.
But to me, you know, is itsuccessful if people peruse it
and, and it's not actionable.
Mm-hmm.
What would be successful to meis it was actionable that there
was information in there that wasutilized to drive strategies, right?
(20:21):
Mm-hmm.
And so you know, so, so as we'rekind of talking about these, I
know it feels like it might feela little abstract, but if you dig
deep in you know, kind of take this.
Step-by-step, you can see that youcan create 4, 5, 6 key performance
indicators for a brand new unit, right?
Like that would be all theoperational stuff getting them on
their off feet developing thoselegacy documents and so forth.
(20:43):
And then you could also move into witha more developed team, the utilization
and that feedback piece and theconversations that you have with others.
Because Jason, here's what I find isthat a lot of analysts just don't,
don't relate to what they actually do.
You know, one, one of the things Italk to a lot of analysts about is
what they actually do for their agency.
(21:03):
And they say thingslike, I help detectives.
Mm-hmm.
These phrases fallshort of our true value.
And so when we develop thesekey performance indicators,
we're developing our true value.
We're articulating it,we're documenting it.
And it's purposeful, right?
I transform raw data intoactionable intelligence that
helps protect our communities.
(21:23):
Well, let's figure outhow to measure that.
That's a great purpose statement, right?
I ensure that our agency's limitedresources are deployed where
they'll have maximum impact.
Okay, fantastic.
So how do we measure that?
What, what things did we do that helped ussave money and deploy with maximum impact?
Right?
And then, you know, another purpose drivenstatement would be I connect patterns and
(21:46):
trends that might otherwise remain hidden.
Fantastic.
So how do we measure that?
We measure that by saying how many, youknow, how many patterns do you detect?
Now, if you're an agency of like 13cops, you probably aren't gonna detect
a heck of a lot of patterns, right?
You might have a different keyperformance measurement indicator, right?
But you know, for agencies that are largeror maybe, you know, 50 or more officers,
(22:10):
they're all likely patterns and trends.
And so maybe it is a matter of seeingkind of, you know, how many can I detect
in the beginning and then how many can Iproperly relay or provide predictions to?
To the folks who were gonna createimpact, and then after that, how
many resulted in something positive?
Hmm.
All right.
As you mentioned, you'regoing through teaching some
of this stuff to, to managers.
(22:32):
I'm curious, whatfeedback are you getting?
, Where's the biggest pushback thatyou're, you, that you're getting?
I feel like the biggestpushback is the analysts don't
articulate well what they do.
Mm-hmm.
Therefore the managers don'tknow what to ask of them.
And so you know, so things that themanagers are asking me is, like, yeah,
(22:54):
we have a great crime analysis unit.
They send me stuff all the time,and then I ask them the question,
you know, what do you use?
What's your favorite product?
And they're like, oh, we don't really,don't use anything, but, but they
give us a lot of really cool stuff.
Or I, I don't know.
I don't know what to actually use.
I don't know how to usewhat they tell me to use.
And if a, if a manager is saying,I don't know how to use it, it's,
(23:16):
it's a pretty product that tells methat that product's not actionable.
So A KPI at that agency needs to reallyfocus on how actionable the reporting is.
So, so a from the analyst side, I thinkthe biggest downfall is they don't
know how to articulate what they do.
I was then called anelevator speech, right?
Like, how do you tell someone whatyou do in a couple of minutes, who
doesn't know anything about yourrole and the majority of analysts.
(23:38):
School.
I mean, ask yourselfthis question right now.
If you're an analyst listeningto this, , what do you do?
Are you automatically sayingthings like, I do Comsat, or I
do writeups for detectives, orI do, or I do data requests?
Well, those are the things.
Those aren't the purpose.
So no one cares.
No one cares how you do your stuff.
We care about the best and so.
(24:00):
Instead, we want our analysts to saythings like, I transform complex data
sets into clear actionable intel products.
Or I guide operation decisionmaking and strategic planning.
Or I identify emerging crime patterns andtrends that might otherwise be hidden.
Or, I provide the analytical foundationfor evidence-based resource allocation.
(24:21):
Mm-hmm.
So once we actually define ourelevator speech, it becomes much
easier to create these KPIs around.
Our purpose and that biggest part of allof this, Jason, is to find purpose and
not think, and that's why the elevatorspeech and the KPI goes hand in hand.
Hmm.
Yeah.
(24:41):
I've seen a lot of of analysts say,well, how do I create an elevator?
Speech because they, theyfeel like they do everything.
I mean, I mm-hmm.
Sometimes feel like I do everything right?
Like someone says, what do you do?
You don't wanna skip anything.
So your elevated speechis like 12 pages long.
Right?
And you can't do that, right?
You can't do that.
It has to be delivered with confidence.
(25:02):
I hear a lot of analysts saying,you know, I, I feel like I'm lying.
I feel like I'm lying when I say Iidentify patterns, because really
all I do is data entry right now.
'cause we don't have systems.
So for them I say, well, youknow, a, a key performance
indicator is to develop systems.
Does that streamline your workflow?
Right.
And so what does that KPI look like?
(25:23):
Yeah.
Well, it looks like a system.
It looks like templates, it lookslike workflow management tools.
Right.
So you know, so if, if you're feeling asan analyst, like you really don't have
systems in place, then that is your KPIput systems in place that makes your
faster so that you want the analytics that
you, yeah.
And you can stay inthere for a long while.
That is an area where if you'recleaning data or doing data
(25:48):
management , that's a KPI in itself.
And that you solved anissue with the data.
Right,
exactly.
What problems do I wanna solve?
And that could be the KPI, youknow, if you're a homicide.
Analyst, you might, you know, youmight have a problem that maybe some
of your cold cases get forgotten aboutand you wanna create a system that,
(26:10):
you know, allows you to easily accessthe cold cases where we are in those
cases, you know, to have some kind ofrelief for the families, sometimes of
annual contact, whatever it might be.
So the KPI would be to develop asystem so it allows for annual contact.
And so what does that look like?
Well, it might be an access database.
I don't really care.
No one cares about the howwe care about the impact.
(26:34):
And so we as analysts and supervisorsneed to be thinking less about the
things that we do, the reports, theExcel sheets, the access databases.
Yeah, those are ways that we do them,but we need to really be thinking
about the impact that we have.
I synthesize complex information, right?
Mm-hmm.
I provide commanders with aholistic view of potential threats.
(26:54):
Great.
That's something we can measure.
We can measure, the potentialthreats that you've, know discovered.
Right?
If you work for a DA's office, right,you might say, I support prosecutors
by analyzing evidence and crime trends.
I build stronger cases.
I understand patterns of re-offending.
I ultimately contribute to more justand effective judicial outcomes.
(27:15):
Well, that's measurable, right?
That's measurable to say.
You know, like a lot of districtattorney office analysts like
are just throwing stuff together.
Well, instead of that, I wannacreate a system that analyzes
evidence more succinctly.
So that could be your KPI.
So KPIs can change.
It's okay too, right?
I think in business wechange every month, right?
(27:36):
We have our overarching KPI, but thenwe have what's our key performance
indicator of success for this month?
And it might be the relationshipsthat you start, it might be the kind
of relationships that you, that maybehave gone away that you tap into.
So it does, it can change as,as we move throughout our, our.
A month or year.
Right?
(27:56):
Yeah.
I guess what would your advice be tosomebody that's really on the ground
floor and, 'cause what I'm worriedabout with some is there's, this is a
lot of extra, and probably when you askmost analysts, do they have extra time?
They're gonna tell you no.
So I'm concerned.
This is just gonna be right offas like, oh, it's too complex.
(28:19):
I can't do this.
You know, we don't have theinfrastructure, we don't have the
project management, we don't havethe portfolio, we don't have the
documentation I'm holding on by astring here just trying to manage my
day-to-day operations I don't see howI'm going to be able to develop a KPI.
Yeah, and in that case, I would sayit's almost necessary that they do.
(28:41):
Or they're going to hate their livesbecause the reality is, if you are hanging
on like that, if you are back to back, toback to back not taking lunches and you
know you have so much to do, then chancesare your systems are not set up properly.
Chances are you might hanot have access to data.
Chances are you mightnot have a workflow that.
(29:03):
Is effective, right?
And so the way to start always is todefine the vision, which is essentially
later on measured through those keyperformance, performance indicators.
So you could have one, you couldhave one indicator that says, I'm
going to streamline my workflow.
Over the next three months.
Right.
I've worked with analysts who, youknow, I'm thinking of this New Hampshire
(29:23):
analyst that is such a great success.
She did everything manually,forever, and ever and ever.
And then she came into our crime analysisprogram and she says, you know, I,
I know I need to make things easier.
I know I need to streamline processes'cause I never actually analyze.
Maintaining the dataright in an Excel sheet.
And so it took a little work, but shehad, you know, she took some access
(29:46):
courses and she learned and we helpedher connect her database and all of a
sudden, all the inputting that she did.
Went away because now thedatabase was connected.
And so now she just read the reportslike what an analyst is supposed to
do, and plugged in her information.
And she has so much more freetime now to actually analyze data.
So her KPIs in thebeginning were simply to.
(30:09):
Stop drowning and createa couple of systems.
And then she rejoined theprogram actually twice.
This is her third time.
It might even be her fourth time.
'Cause there's different levels, right?
Mm-hmm.
And now she says, Dawn, I've learned allthe tools that, that you, that the people
before me used to say, do it, do it.
Get the, get the systems in place.
She's like, I've learned allthose and now I need new goals.
(30:32):
I need new ways of, actuallyutilizing the system.
And so she's learning abouthow to up the level of that.
Right?
But in the beginning, itstarted with an elevator speech.
It started with crafting thatlanguage of what we actually do.
It started with one goal, andchances are it is system based.
For most analysts, it is howcan I streamline my systems so
(30:55):
that I can actually do analysis?
Alright, someone listening to this, howcan they get more information, Dawn?
Yeah, sure.
So we have a bunch of these kind ofmicro learning programs over at Don Rebe.
So D-A-W-N-R-E-E-B as in boy y@podia.com.
We have a bunch of microlearningprograms over there, like key
(31:16):
performance indicators and elevatorspeeches with much more detail in there.
You know, as well as productivityand all kinds of fun stuff going on.
Right now we have a couple of analyst.
Bundles where you can juststart learning micro learning.
It doesn't have to be seven hours a day.
It could be like 20 minutes.
You know, I know that Iwanna improve my systems.
How do I start to do that?
Or I know that I, I wannaindicate something about myself.
(31:38):
How do I do that?
How do I say my elevator speech better?
How do I get the job I want?
How do I do my portfolio?
So we have a ton ofopportunity over there.
And, you know certainly.
Through the IACA and throughour excellence in analytics.
We have our crime analysis program.
If you're looking to go hardcore for sixmonths, we have a bunch of those things,
but if you're looking to just get started,you can go over there, read some blogs.
(32:00):
A lot of these things are free.
Some of them are like 20 bucks,you know, and they're really
intended to help people just.
Start and, and move and thenget excited and do a little
bit more and a little bit more.
Excellent.
And we'll put in the, in the shownotes, links for the information
that Dawn just described.
All right, Dawn, I guess what's next
(32:21):
well, I, I'm so excited.
I'm working on a 12 weekproject with the IACA.
It's called crime Analysis, automationand Productivity, transforming
Workflows for Maximum Impact.
It is one of the 12 week online.
Programs, and I'm actually reallyexcited about this one because I'm
throwing in some great AI tools aswell as workflow automation techniques.
(32:42):
You know, I see way too manyanalysts doing things the hard way.
I just wanna package it all upon a bunch of tips on how to
do it much, much more easily.
Right?
So that should be coming out pretty soon.
Be on the lookout for that.
You know, it certainly hashelped me in so many ways.
People ask me all the time, Jason,how do you get so much done?
I mean.
You, you know, you work full-time at anagency, you run a business full-time.
(33:05):
You're a yoga teacher, instructor,like training instructor.
You a ma. This is how I dothings, this is how I get it done.
I cut the fat,
you sleep three hours.
Right?
Right.
I
cut the fat.
I automate what needs to be automatedand I put my time, my love, my
energy into the things that matter.
And so, you know, so I thinkwe can, we can do that together
(33:26):
as an analytical community.
We can, there's so many people thatI learn things from in my journeys
that I build into these courses, soI'm thankful for all of them as well.
But that 12 week transformingworkflows for maximum impact is,
I'm really excited about that comingout over the next month or two.
Nice.
And if people want to get ahold of you,what's the best way to get ahold of you?
Email dawn@excellenceinanalytics.com.
(33:50):
I generally respond to myemails within 24 hours.
. Yeah.
And you got a KPI for that, right?
I sure do.
All right, Don, it wasgreat catching up with you.
Until next time, be safe.
All
right.
Thank you Jason.
Thank you for making it tothe end of another episode of
Analyst Talk with Jason Elder.
You can show your support by sharingthis and other episodes found on
(34:11):
our website at www dot podcasts.
Dot com.
If you have a topic you would likeus to cover or have a suggestion for
our next guest, please send us anemail at Elliot podcast@gmail.com.
Till next time, analyst, keep talking.
LEA podcasts.
Would like to take a moment tocongratulate Dale Harris on his
IACA Lifetime Achievement Award.
Dale was the second president and oneof the founders to the association.
We're gonna take a moment hereand have Lori Frank, one of his
longtime friends and employees talkabout his accomplishments before
(00:25):
we get to this week's episode,catching Up with Dawn Reebe.
Please join me in congratulatingDale Harris on receiving the
IACA'S Lifetime Achievement Award.
I had the incredible honor ofbeing mentored by Dale Harris when
I was a brand new crime analyst.
He is not only a pioneer in our field.
(00:45):
But also an unparalleled teacherwho recognized the power of
data to transform policing.
Dale founded Corona Solutions with thesingular vision of helping agencies
optimize their patrol operations.
Through his company, he has empoweredover 150 agencies, allowing analysts
to see the direct and fruitfulimpact of their work as patrol
officers gain more time for proactivepolicing and community engagement.
(01:09):
It is my great honor to read thisstatement from a true leader.
My friend and former mentor Dale Harris.
I am Dale Harris, past president of IACA.
I served from 1981 to 1984 when a groupof us saw the need for a professional
association to learn from each other andpromote the concept of crime analysis.
(01:33):
I found the IACA to be a great helpin learning and sharing new concepts
and practices in what was then anew concept in law enforcement.
Of course, at that time, nearlyeverything was done with pencil and
paper and maybe an electronic calculator.
Typewriters and telephones ruledsince we had no computers and of
course, no software to assist us.
(01:55):
We drew our charts and maps by hand.
However, we immediately saw theneed for technology in this field.
While I was president, most agencies werein the early stages of computerization.
One benefit of the IACA was theability to share goals and plans
for collecting and managing data.
From those early conferences,we were able to visit agencies
(02:18):
across the country, receiving andsharing tips and best practices.
I am grateful to the members past andpresent who have moved the science
of Crime analysis forward, and Iexpect them to continue doing so.
If you wanna find out more about DaleHarris and Lori Frank, check out the
show notes for a link to their episodeson Analyst Talk with Jason Elder.
(02:42):
Now back to the show.
Welcome to Analyst Talk with Jason Elder.
It's like coffee with an analyst,or it could be whiskey with an
analyst reading a spreadsheet,linking crime events, identifying a
series, and getting the latest scoopon association news and training.
So please don't beat that analystand join us as we define the law
enforcement analysis profession.
One episode at a time.
How are we doing?
(03:02):
Alice?
Jason Elder here with another LEA podcast.
Deep dive.
Catching up with Dawn Dawn Reebe.
How we doing?
Hey Jason.
I'm doing great.
Thank you for having me here again today.
I appreciate you.
I appreciate you.
How was the summer?
That was
a really great summer.
I actually spent a couple ofweeks down in Miami working
with their analysts over there.
(03:24):
It was doing patternanalysis is ton of fun.
Got upside down on my paddle board.
So that was a lot of fun too, and, andjust really been enjoying the summer.
The weather's been fantastic.
How about yourself?
Yeah, the same.
Well after I melted in June, but mostof July it's been a change in, in the
weather here, it's starting to feellike fall, which, which is just not
(03:46):
as hot, but it's more comfortable.
Yeah, I know I was down your way inthe la June and July July rather in
August, and it, it was, it was toasty.
It was 90 day, which is not too toasty.
Right.
Yeah, it is definitely toasty.
So, yeah.
But hey, I don't know, a couple moremonths then it'll be winter and we'll
(04:06):
be complaining that it's too cold.
Right.
Exactly.
Exactly.
All right.
Very good.
Well, what are we talking about today?
Yeah, so today we're talkingabout the concept of KPIs or
key performance indicators.
How we measure success, how we you know,look at how analysis really influences
our police agencies and kind of putsome professional framework around what
(04:26):
that looks like and what that means.
All right.
So, and that's a term that I don't know.
How well it's known in the lawenforcement analysis realm.
I, I don't remember actuallyseeing the concept of KPI until
I actually left law enforcement.
Let's first start with definingthe KPIs a little bit just to
(04:48):
give our listeners an idea.
Yeah.
And so you're right, so KPIsreally exist in the private sector.
They're key performance indicators, whichbasically is how you measure success.
Right.
So it, it puts a professional kind ofbox around what does success look like.
So, for a business, so in my business,you know, when I went to business
school, we had to define KPIs interms of what, you know, what would
(05:11):
make the business seem successful.
Is it, you know, the amountof clients you serve?
Is it the amount of income that comes in?
Is it the amount of books you write?
Like what, what are your KPIs, right?
How do you measure success?
And so when I started thinking about this.
You know, I realized it reallywasn't in law enforcement analysis.
We never talk about KPIs.
(05:31):
We always talk about ourselves ashelpers for patrol and detectives
and, and chiefs and executives.
And as you know, one of my biggest missionis to really build crime analysis, legacy.
Do this right, do it,build it in a way that is.
Can be replicated, is professional thatwe are upleveling the entire field, right?
(05:52):
And so how do we uplevel the entire field?
Well, we craft out whatsuccess actually looks like.
So that we can then goand achieve that success.
So that's kind of how it, I'm,I'm, I was thinking about moving
it over into public sector.
Yeah.
And it's, this is one that topic that'snear and dear to my heart because
(06:12):
on the podcast for, for those thathave been around the while, and one
of the questions I like to ask is,what are you surprised by That, law
enforcement analysis hasn't figured outby now, this is a good one for that.
'cause I would've thought 20 yearsago that we would've had more more
(06:33):
KPIs, more more well-defined success.
For not only the analyst,but the analytical unit.
And I, but I, I think that it's not onlyjust LEA, I think it's LE as a whole too,
because it seems like we're still beancounting, you know, the call calls for
service response time and the number ofhomicides and the number of shootings.
(06:57):
It seems like to me that the, thewhole kitten caboodle is behind.
Yeah.
I mean, you think about it, if you becomea chief, you wanna reduce crime, right?
Or you wanna have lesssocial harm or less crashes.
And so so what does it mean for us, right?
So mm-hmm.
Crime analysis, we really occupya, a super unique position, right?
(07:18):
So we provide that criticalintel and insights, but how
do we measure that, right?
Yeah.
We support, but we don'tdirectly control operations.
Like we can say, Hey.
If the suspect continues thisbehavior, they're likely to hit in
this downtown area between, let'ssay zero 200 and zero 800 hours.
But the question becomes doesanyone actually listen to that?
(07:38):
We don't, we don't alwaysfully control the operations.
Mm-hmm.
An agency can have an analyst, but that,a, the agency may not be data driven.
Right.
So how do we, how do we account for that?
You know, thinking about our workinfluences the decisions, but it
doesn't actually determine the finalsteps there's or the final results.
There's so many other variables.
There's economics.
(07:58):
There's how many officers you have.
There's so many things thatimpact that final result that
we really can't say crime.
Increase or decrease crime or social harm.
Right.
And the other key thing here isthat we have to maintain objectivity
and s like in alignment withsupporting the agency goals.
(08:19):
So in business we talk aboutprocess impact and or process goals.
And impact goals.
Like the impact goals for a policeagency would be getting crime lower.
But what about the process goals?
Are we actually utilizingdata-driven efforts?
Are we, you know, utilizinganalysis the way that it should be?
Or do we have a bunch of analystsinputting data or producing great
(08:43):
reports that are never utilizedor, or things of that nature?
So this is a very important topic if wewanna professionalize the field, which
is, I know, a goal of yours as well.
Yeah.
So I guess, so do we first need to define.
What I mean, I guess, and you didit in a way, like what, what success
looks like for, an analyst or.
(09:04):
And a unit, because I think that there'sdefinitely some discussion there and my
head automatically jumps at way aheadto think of like, okay, how do you
document, how do you secure all thisdata to be able to effectively measure.
Outcomes.
Yep.
Yeah.
Well, first we have to definewhat that would look like, right?
(09:24):
Mm-hmm.
So a couple of things I would say, likemaybe some, you know, things that we
wanna be aware of, we don't wanna do,we don't wanna have outcome fixation.
We don't wanna rely solely onstatistics to indicate whether
or not our work as analysts isquality analytical work, right?
So that's the first thing.
We wanna hold analysts responsible for thedecisions that they make, like, you know,
(09:45):
how they're producing a quality analysis.
But not necessarily hold themaccountable for the decisions that
the agency makes around analysis.
What I've seen some agencies do again,talking about some pitfalls in measuring.
KPIs or successes isthey talk about reports.
They say , we're gonna measure ourquality, or we're gonna measure our,
(10:05):
our key performance indicator wouldbe producing one bulletin a week.
Mm-hmm.
Or one comp set report a month.
Or, you know, 10 requeststhat is not, that is not KPI.
Mm-hmm.
That is bean counting.
We are just bean countingcrime analysis activities.
Right?
Yeah.
And so we need to move away from the, thequantity and really dive into the quality.
(10:31):
We don't wanna incentivizethat junk analysis, which
just helps analysts, you know.
Create these narratives ratherthan the objective truth.
So, so we don't wanna talk about,we wanna reduce crime, right?
Like, of course an agency wants todo that, but instead we wanna talk
about as an analytical function,what the role is in that process.
(10:52):
And then that is gonnahelp us indicate success.
All right?
What's a, what's a good example of that?
Just drive this point home.
So I would say, . There, there'sa couple of great examples, right?
So if I'm an analyst, I'd wantto look at maybe some of the you
know, products that I produce.
How many of them result in somethingpositive when it is used, right?
(11:14):
So, so you kind of seelike the difference there.
You can't just say, result in somethingpositive, you have to really say
like, when it's actually used, right?
Mm-hmm.
And so.
You know, so you can talkabout the quality of products.
You might have some kind of surveythat goes out to the agency that
says, you know, is, is the analyticalunit responding, you know, within
(11:36):
24 hours to reports or requests thatcould be responded to in 24 hours.
Right?
And so we can documentthose and write those down.
For instance, like a clear report,a, you know, looking at the
crime at a school that should bea ten second turnaround, right?
You should have a queryset up where that is.
An easy turnaround.
And so it should not take four days forthat to, for that to get kicked out.
(11:58):
Right?
And so we can use some time parametersaround KPIs like that to really say,
okay, well easy requests should,you know, and we can quantify easy.
Mm-hmm.
Should take less than 24 hours.
And what does that actually look like?
You know, so, yeah.
So what about you?
Do you have any KPIs at your agencyright now where you're just like, yeah,
this is, this is how we measure success?
(12:19):
So I, I think about that in terms ofthat, and of course, I'm not in law
enforcement anymore, so I think aboutall the different KPIs we have , at
work,, it's interesting because it,there you hit the nail on the head
in terms of the time component.
It's like there's a lot of different timesthat are captured because time is money.
(12:42):
Yep.
So, and so that, that's another one.
And, you know, and then some ofthem, I, I, one of the things that
work is, is just get more, like someof them are just abstract, right?
Mm-hmm.
And I didn't, I don't like thoseas, as much because it's like,
did you help Vanderbiltbe, a great workplace.
(13:03):
I was like, I was like, yes.
I was not a jerk to my coworkers.
Right, right, right.
So some of them, some of 'em get kindof abstract, but, some of 'em, like
these long-term projects and you'reright, I assisted here, I help there.
And then if I'm trying to, okay.
Trying to write down, how did Imake a difference on this project?
(13:25):
It do, it is tough.
Yeah.
It, it's, it's tough tosit there and quantify.
Mm-hmm.
How I impacted it.
It is, again, I've always had thatstruggle with creating resumes too.
How do I put on a resume what I do andhow do I make it more actionable terms as
opposed to assisted and helped and, andthose, those less punchy words, right?
(13:49):
Yes,
exactly.
And I think you can, you know, youcan say things like, we built out
the policies and procedures for thea key KPI for a crime analysis unit.
Could certainly be that youdevelop the infrastructure, right?
So what does thatinfrastructure look like?
Well, we have a well positioned vision ofwhat the analytical unit is going to be.
(14:09):
We have a policy on how the agencyproperly utilizes an analytical function.
We have, you know, our procedures alldocumented so that when we onboard
somebody, they have a spot to go towhere they click on a button and they
see how to generate every single report,every single analysis, you know, what
data source it comes from what maybeany templates that you use, right?
(14:33):
So you could say one of theKPIs could certainly be that
infrastructure, that that'ssomething that's well-defined, right?
Mm-hmm.
And so you could, I teach a classthrough the ISCA right now on for
supervisors on this very thing.
Like what is, what is theproper infrastructure?
So we talk about them, theproper vision, not the vision.
(14:54):
For the agency, but the visionfor the analytical unit and how
developing that is a key performanceindicator if you develop it.
Fantastic checkbox, right?
Mm-hmm.
And if it's implemented and accepted bythe agency a double check mark, right?
So there's two kind of indicators there.
We talk about developing roadmapsfor all of our an analysts, so that.
(15:14):
You know, we know exactly what skillsyou want that analyst to develop.
Do you want them to be excellent at Excel?
Well, who cares?
Why?
What do you want them to do with Excel?
What's the purpose of it?
Right?
Mm-hmm.
Do you want them to createplatforms that are usable for, you
know, for your officers, right?
Maybe some slicers or switchboardsor things of that nature?
(15:36):
Why to ease.
Data access from, from the field.
So a key performance indicator wouldn'tbe, my analyst knows how to use Excel.
A key performance indicator couldbe that they've created some kind
of tool that makes it easier forofficers to access or for supervisors
to access data from the field.
(15:56):
Right?
And so.
You know, so when we develop thatinfrastructure and when we develop
those roadmaps of what skills do wewant our analysts to have and why
it's the, and why that becomes ourkey performance indicator, right?
Mm-hmm.
So other key performance indicatorsI could think about relative to
legacy would be evaluation forms.
If you currently don't haveevaluation forms that mirror
(16:20):
your roadmaps for your analysts.
Which are kind of the skills you wantthem to develop and why, then they'll
never know what success looks like.
Probably 80% of the agencies thatI work with, whether through the
ISCA or private consulting, don'thave roadmaps for their analysts.
None of them know what itlooks like to be successful.
And so we, you know, immediately developthose roadmaps and say, if you're a
(16:45):
an entry level analyst, these are theskills you need to have and here's why.
If you're an intermediate,here are the skills and why.
And so forth, right?
And these are the actionsthat we want you to do.
So the, the process of that in thebeginning could be, could actually
be those key performance indicatorsfor an analytical unit portfolios.
The fact of all analysts havinga portfolio that showcases.
(17:08):
Their analytical products, the successes,the challenges, how they overcame it,
how they assisted the, the developmentof those portfolios could be a, a
key performance indicator that youfill your portfolio with at least.
You know, 10 successes a year, right?
Yeah.
So you can have unique key performanceindicators that really highlight
the impact of what an analyticalfunction does at an agency.
(17:30):
Yeah.
And I think I'm required now whenanybody uses portfolio on the show
to mention Sean Bair, because he's abig proponent of portfolios mm-hmm.
In the interview process.
Absolutely.
I mean, of course.
You know, so, so we have a templatewith our, our folks on our, on our
site to use, which is pretty generic.
It's pretty basic.
But you don't just grab, please, ifyou're listening to this, don't just grab
(17:52):
reports and stick them in your portfolio.
Mm-hmm.
You wanna go through anapproval process, right?
Mm-hmm.
To remove, you know, youremove your products or redact
them or whatever it might be.
But Sean's right.
You know, we really need toshow people what we've done
and what impact we've created.
And that really is the key word impact.
Mm-hmm.
Not things that we do.
No one cares that you developed Comsat.
(18:13):
No one cares that youdeveloped a bulletin.
What we care about was, you know,what's the impact of Comsat and what's
the impact of those bulletins, right?
Mm-hmm.
So another key performanceindicator for an analyst might be.
You know, the percentage ofanalytical pro products that directly
contributed to cases weird, right?
So, so if you produce a bulletinthat no one reads, then who cares?
(18:34):
Yeah.
But if you're producing a bulletin thatyou discover that it was utilized in
case clearance, you know, that creates.
That concept of impact.
Yeah.
And that, I think you might havementioned it, but that's where
surveys could come in handy, right?
Yeah.
Because how you would document thatis, I, you could have the analysts
go out and a ask personally, but haveat the end of an investigation or a
(18:58):
project, if there is an after action.
Survey.
That would be something that couldbe for the whole team of, okay,
the analyst produced X, Y, and Z.
What was your opinion, or , how doyou feel that it impacted the project?
Absolutely.
So there's lots of different ways tomeasure key performance indicators,
(19:19):
and certainly a survey maybeonce a year would be helpful to
really gain some of that feedback.
And maybe it's a matter of it'sanecdotal, you know, maybe it's
sitting in a roll call and saying,Hey, you know, was this helpful?
Or talking with a detective andsaying, Hey, was this helping?
Getting some feedback.
I see a lot of.
Really sitting in their officenot knowing if anything has been
read or anything has impact.
(19:39):
And so we really wanna be sure that we'reclear about what does success look like?
The, if you're an agency rightnow that says success looks like
the, the analyst produces Comsat.
Well, heck, I have seen Compat.
I, I've recently worked with an analyst.
His comp set was four to six pages long.
To me, that's not success,
and to me that's still small.
(20:01):
I still, it was small.
I, I've seen hundreds.
I've seen hundreds ofpages on a weekly basis.
Right.
But to me, you know, is itsuccessful if people peruse it
and, and it's not actionable.
Mm-hmm.
What would be successful to meis it was actionable that there
was information in there that wasutilized to drive strategies, right?
(20:21):
Mm-hmm.
And so you know, so, so as we'rekind of talking about these, I
know it feels like it might feela little abstract, but if you dig
deep in you know, kind of take this.
Step-by-step, you can see that youcan create 4, 5, 6 key performance
indicators for a brand new unit, right?
Like that would be all theoperational stuff getting them on
their off feet developing thoselegacy documents and so forth.
(20:43):
And then you could also move into witha more developed team, the utilization
and that feedback piece and theconversations that you have with others.
Because Jason, here's what I find isthat a lot of analysts just don't,
don't relate to what they actually do.
You know, one, one of the things Italk to a lot of analysts about is
what they actually do for their agency.
(21:03):
And they say thingslike, I help detectives.
Mm-hmm.
These phrases fallshort of our true value.
And so when we develop thesekey performance indicators,
we're developing our true value.
We're articulating it,we're documenting it.
And it's purposeful, right?
I transform raw data intoactionable intelligence that
helps protect our communities.
(21:23):
Well, let's figure outhow to measure that.
That's a great purpose statement, right?
I ensure that our agency's limitedresources are deployed where
they'll have maximum impact.
Okay, fantastic.
So how do we measure that?
What, what things did we do that helped ussave money and deploy with maximum impact?
Right?
And then, you know, another purpose drivenstatement would be I connect patterns and
(21:46):
trends that might otherwise remain hidden.
Fantastic.
So how do we measure that?
We measure that by saying how many, youknow, how many patterns do you detect?
Now, if you're an agency of like 13cops, you probably aren't gonna detect
a heck of a lot of patterns, right?
You might have a different keyperformance measurement indicator, right?
But you know, for agencies that are largeror maybe, you know, 50 or more officers,
(22:10):
they're all likely patterns and trends.
And so maybe it is a matter of seeingkind of, you know, how many can I detect
in the beginning and then how many can Iproperly relay or provide predictions to?
To the folks who were gonna createimpact, and then after that, how
many resulted in something positive?
Hmm.
All right.
As you mentioned, you'regoing through teaching some
of this stuff to, to managers.
(22:32):
I'm curious, whatfeedback are you getting?
, Where's the biggest pushback thatyou're, you, that you're getting?
I feel like the biggestpushback is the analysts don't
articulate well what they do.
Mm-hmm.
Therefore the managers don'tknow what to ask of them.
And so you know, so things that themanagers are asking me is, like, yeah,
(22:54):
we have a great crime analysis unit.
They send me stuff all the time,and then I ask them the question,
you know, what do you use?
What's your favorite product?
And they're like, oh, we don't really,don't use anything, but, but they
give us a lot of really cool stuff.
Or I, I don't know.
I don't know what to actually use.
I don't know how to usewhat they tell me to use.
And if a, if a manager is saying,I don't know how to use it, it's,
(23:16):
it's a pretty product that tells methat that product's not actionable.
So A KPI at that agency needs to reallyfocus on how actionable the reporting is.
So, so a from the analyst side, I thinkthe biggest downfall is they don't
know how to articulate what they do.
I was then called anelevator speech, right?
Like, how do you tell someone whatyou do in a couple of minutes, who
doesn't know anything about yourrole and the majority of analysts.
(23:38):
School.
I mean, ask yourselfthis question right now.
If you're an analyst listeningto this, , what do you do?
Are you automatically sayingthings like, I do Comsat, or I
do writeups for detectives, orI do, or I do data requests?
Well, those are the things.
Those aren't the purpose.
So no one cares.
No one cares how you do your stuff.
We care about the best and so.
(24:00):
Instead, we want our analysts to saythings like, I transform complex data
sets into clear actionable intel products.
Or I guide operation decisionmaking and strategic planning.
Or I identify emerging crime patterns andtrends that might otherwise be hidden.
Or, I provide the analytical foundationfor evidence-based resource allocation.
(24:21):
Mm-hmm.
So once we actually define ourelevator speech, it becomes much
easier to create these KPIs around.
Our purpose and that biggest part of allof this, Jason, is to find purpose and
not think, and that's why the elevatorspeech and the KPI goes hand in hand.
Hmm.
Yeah.
(24:41):
I've seen a lot of of analysts say,well, how do I create an elevator?
Speech because they, theyfeel like they do everything.
I mean, I mm-hmm.
Sometimes feel like I do everything right?
Like someone says, what do you do?
You don't wanna skip anything.
So your elevated speechis like 12 pages long.
Right?
And you can't do that, right?
You can't do that.
It has to be delivered with confidence.
(25:02):
I hear a lot of analysts saying,you know, I, I feel like I'm lying.
I feel like I'm lying when I say Iidentify patterns, because really
all I do is data entry right now.
'cause we don't have systems.
So for them I say, well, youknow, a, a key performance
indicator is to develop systems.
Does that streamline your workflow?
Right.
And so what does that KPI look like?
(25:23):
Yeah.
Well, it looks like a system.
It looks like templates, it lookslike workflow management tools.
Right.
So you know, so if, if you're feeling asan analyst, like you really don't have
systems in place, then that is your KPIput systems in place that makes your
faster so that you want the analytics that
you, yeah.
And you can stay inthere for a long while.
That is an area where if you'recleaning data or doing data
(25:48):
management , that's a KPI in itself.
And that you solved anissue with the data.
Right,
exactly.
What problems do I wanna solve?
And that could be the KPI, youknow, if you're a homicide.
Analyst, you might, you know, youmight have a problem that maybe some
of your cold cases get forgotten aboutand you wanna create a system that,
(26:10):
you know, allows you to easily accessthe cold cases where we are in those
cases, you know, to have some kind ofrelief for the families, sometimes of
annual contact, whatever it might be.
So the KPI would be to develop asystem so it allows for annual contact.
And so what does that look like?
Well, it might be an access database.
I don't really care.
No one cares about the howwe care about the impact.
(26:34):
And so we as analysts and supervisorsneed to be thinking less about the
things that we do, the reports, theExcel sheets, the access databases.
Yeah, those are ways that we do them,but we need to really be thinking
about the impact that we have.
I synthesize complex information, right?
Mm-hmm.
I provide commanders with aholistic view of potential threats.
(26:54):
Great.
That's something we can measure.
We can measure, the potentialthreats that you've, know discovered.
Right?
If you work for a DA's office, right,you might say, I support prosecutors
by analyzing evidence and crime trends.
I build stronger cases.
I understand patterns of re-offending.
I ultimately contribute to more justand effective judicial outcomes.
(27:15):
Well, that's measurable, right?
That's measurable to say.
You know, like a lot of districtattorney office analysts like
are just throwing stuff together.
Well, instead of that, I wannacreate a system that analyzes
evidence more succinctly.
So that could be your KPI.
So KPIs can change.
It's okay too, right?
I think in business wechange every month, right?
(27:36):
We have our overarching KPI, but thenwe have what's our key performance
indicator of success for this month?
And it might be the relationshipsthat you start, it might be the kind
of relationships that you, that maybehave gone away that you tap into.
So it does, it can change as,as we move throughout our, our.
A month or year.
Right?
(27:56):
Yeah.
I guess what would your advice be tosomebody that's really on the ground
floor and, 'cause what I'm worriedabout with some is there's, this is a
lot of extra, and probably when you askmost analysts, do they have extra time?
They're gonna tell you no.
So I'm concerned.
This is just gonna be right offas like, oh, it's too complex.
(28:19):
I can't do this.
You know, we don't have theinfrastructure, we don't have the
project management, we don't havethe portfolio, we don't have the
documentation I'm holding on by astring here just trying to manage my
day-to-day operations I don't see howI'm going to be able to develop a KPI.
Yeah, and in that case, I would sayit's almost necessary that they do.
(28:41):
Or they're going to hate their livesbecause the reality is, if you are hanging
on like that, if you are back to back, toback to back not taking lunches and you
know you have so much to do, then chancesare your systems are not set up properly.
Chances are you might hanot have access to data.
Chances are you mightnot have a workflow that.
(29:03):
Is effective, right?
And so the way to start always is todefine the vision, which is essentially
later on measured through those keyperformance, performance indicators.
So you could have one, you couldhave one indicator that says, I'm
going to streamline my workflow.
Over the next three months.
Right.
I've worked with analysts who, youknow, I'm thinking of this New Hampshire
(29:23):
analyst that is such a great success.
She did everything manually,forever, and ever and ever.
And then she came into our crime analysisprogram and she says, you know, I,
I know I need to make things easier.
I know I need to streamline processes'cause I never actually analyze.
Maintaining the dataright in an Excel sheet.
And so it took a little work, but shehad, you know, she took some access
(29:46):
courses and she learned and we helpedher connect her database and all of a
sudden, all the inputting that she did.
Went away because now thedatabase was connected.
And so now she just read the reportslike what an analyst is supposed to
do, and plugged in her information.
And she has so much more freetime now to actually analyze data.
So her KPIs in thebeginning were simply to.
(30:09):
Stop drowning and createa couple of systems.
And then she rejoined theprogram actually twice.
This is her third time.
It might even be her fourth time.
'Cause there's different levels, right?
Mm-hmm.
And now she says, Dawn, I've learned allthe tools that, that you, that the people
before me used to say, do it, do it.
Get the, get the systems in place.
She's like, I've learned allthose and now I need new goals.
(30:32):
I need new ways of, actuallyutilizing the system.
And so she's learning abouthow to up the level of that.
Right?
But in the beginning, itstarted with an elevator speech.
It started with crafting thatlanguage of what we actually do.
It started with one goal, andchances are it is system based.
For most analysts, it is howcan I streamline my systems so
(30:55):
that I can actually do analysis?
Alright, someone listening to this, howcan they get more information, Dawn?
Yeah, sure.
So we have a bunch of these kind ofmicro learning programs over at Don Rebe.
So D-A-W-N-R-E-E-B as in boy y@podia.com.
We have a bunch of microlearningprograms over there, like key
(31:16):
performance indicators and elevatorspeeches with much more detail in there.
You know, as well as productivityand all kinds of fun stuff going on.
Right now we have a couple of analyst.
Bundles where you can juststart learning micro learning.
It doesn't have to be seven hours a day.
It could be like 20 minutes.
You know, I know that Iwanna improve my systems.
How do I start to do that?
Or I know that I, I wannaindicate something about myself.
(31:38):
How do I do that?
How do I say my elevator speech better?
How do I get the job I want?
How do I do my portfolio?
So we have a ton ofopportunity over there.
And, you know certainly.
Through the IACA and throughour excellence in analytics.
We have our crime analysis program.
If you're looking to go hardcore for sixmonths, we have a bunch of those things,
but if you're looking to just get started,you can go over there, read some blogs.
(32:00):
A lot of these things are free.
Some of them are like 20 bucks,you know, and they're really
intended to help people just.
Start and, and move and thenget excited and do a little
bit more and a little bit more.
Excellent.
And we'll put in the, in the shownotes, links for the information
that Dawn just described.
All right, Dawn, I guess what's next
(32:21):
well, I, I'm so excited.
I'm working on a 12 weekproject with the IACA.
It's called crime Analysis, automationand Productivity, transforming
Workflows for Maximum Impact.
It is one of the 12 week online.
Programs, and I'm actually reallyexcited about this one because I'm
throwing in some great AI tools aswell as workflow automation techniques.
(32:42):
You know, I see way too manyanalysts doing things the hard way.
I just wanna package it all upon a bunch of tips on how to
do it much, much more easily.
Right?
So that should be coming out pretty soon.
Be on the lookout for that.
You know, it certainly hashelped me in so many ways.
People ask me all the time, Jason,how do you get so much done?
I mean.
You, you know, you work full-time at anagency, you run a business full-time.
(33:05):
You're a yoga teacher, instructor,like training instructor.
You a ma. This is how I dothings, this is how I get it done.
I cut the fat,
you sleep three hours.
Right?
Right.
I
cut the fat.
I automate what needs to be automatedand I put my time, my love, my
energy into the things that matter.
And so, you know, so I thinkwe can, we can do that together
(33:26):
as an analytical community.
We can, there's so many people thatI learn things from in my journeys
that I build into these courses, soI'm thankful for all of them as well.
But that 12 week transformingworkflows for maximum impact is,
I'm really excited about that comingout over the next month or two.
Nice.
And if people want to get ahold of you,what's the best way to get ahold of you?
Email dawn@excellenceinanalytics.com.
(33:50):
I generally respond to myemails within 24 hours.
. Yeah.
And you got a KPI for that, right?
I sure do.
All right, Don, it wasgreat catching up with you.
Until next time, be safe.
All
right.
Thank you Jason.
Thank you for making it tothe end of another episode of
Analyst Talk with Jason Elder.
You can show your support by sharingthis and other episodes found on
(34:11):
our website at www dot podcasts.
Dot com.
If you have a topic you would likeus to cover or have a suggestion for
our next guest, please send us anemail at Elliot podcast@gmail.com.
Till next time, analyst, keep talking.
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