Grant Drawve, an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, is a co-principal investigator on an ongoing policing project focusing on the ability to harness big data to detect patterns and predict future events. The project, currently underway in Atlantic City, New Jersey, was recently featured on National Geographic's Breakthrough series.

Drawve has been working on this project along with researchers Joel Caplan and Leslie Kennedy from Rutgers University. Drawve was a post-doctoral research associate at Rutgers University before joining the University of Arkansas in 2016.

The pilot project started in fall 2015, in partnership with the Atlantic City Police Department to develop a risk-based policing initiative. The goals of the partnership were:

1. Provide in-house training on risk terrain modeling, geographic information systems, and spatial data management;
2. Establish data-driven, risk-based policing practices to inform decision-making and resource allocations; and
3. Effectively focus crime prevention and risk reduction efforts on places, not people.

The project is currently in the implementation phase with involvement from police department and community stakeholders throughout Atlantic City.

"Grant's big data-driven research in the areas of environmental criminology and safe communities is fascinating and truly a breakthrough," said Anna Zajicek, chair of the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice. "He is currently developing a new undergraduate course in public safety and crime mapping, which will be available in spring 2018."

About the Department: The Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice offers three degree programs and two honor societies; affiliation with three research units: the Community and Family Institute, the Terrorism Research Center, and the Center for Social Research; and research emphases in community and civic engagement, crime, law, and social control, and social inequality.