The Dallas Police Department (DPD) has used technology to combat crime as part of its Dallas Crime Plan. This employs a hot spots policing strategy which identifies and targets specific geographical areas with a high concentration of crime. It has resulted in a fall of 10.7% in violent crime within the hot spot areas.

To pinpoint these hot spots, the DPD has divided the city into grids measuring 330 feet by 330 feet. The DPD analyses crime data to identify grids exhibiting the highest incidence of violent crime, designating them as hot spots. The police department uses temporal crime analysis of the previous twelve months to identify peak crime hours and days of the week within each grid.

Portable pole cameras are strategically placed in high-crime grids to enhance surveillance and gather visual evidence. DPD bike teams are deployed to collect street-level intelligence and monitor criminal activity. The information collected by bike teams is then relayed to crime response teams and investigative units, enabling them to respond proactively to criminal behaviour.

The approach has seen a 33% fall in crime in areas covered by the new strategy.