APD Eyes Other Metro Departments To Better Target Gang Activity

The Atlanta Police Department has a new program it says has changed the way it investigates gang activity, and more metro area departments could be joining.As heard on the radio

APD says it’s been in talks with DeKalb and Clayton counties about expanding the Atlanta Police Intelligence Network – A-PIN for short – a web-based information sharing program developed by the department.

“We think that the more participation we get in this system, the better it will work for all of us,” said Carlos Campos, a spokesperson for APD.

Campos said APD has been using the program for about one year. He says indictments increased by 97 percent in 2012, when it was rolled out. Campos said the program is good for tracking gang activity because it’s able to make connections between cases through a database of markers like weapons, tattoos and gang colors.

He says the system alerts investigators when a potential connection to another case could be made, whereas in the past, that information was shared via paperwork and phone conversation.

“We believe that this database, this platform, is really going to revolutionize the way we compare notes and the way we talk to each other internally,” Campos said.

Neither DeKalb nor Clayton counties responded to inquiries about joining the program.