Radical Efficiency a Practical Guide - Nesta

CASE STUDY 1: CLEAR 12engagement – of both frontline staff and the local communityin the design, development and goals of CLEAR:“It took a multi-year development effort that involved threepolice districts, community organisations, youth groups,businesses, residents schools, to develop a set of functionalrequirements that the community would agree on.”Today, the force is equipped with more than 2,000 handheldcomputers. These enable officers to access CLEAR andcontribute information when they are at a crime scene oron patrol. CLEAR also receives information from other cityagencies – from schools to the department for buildings whoseresponsibilities relate to crime fighting and public safety.“It just makes sense when you are on the street, instead ofwasting manpower and downtime… you can start all thosereports on the scene.”Officer Corey WCLEAR has enabled preventive policing. By mappingcommunity concerns and real-time crime scene information,police officers have a better understanding of where problemsare likely to arise – and can resolve the situation before it getsout of hand.The efficiencies generated by the system enable the forceto keep up with increasing demand from staff and from thecommunity. By reducing paperwork and bureaucracy andspeeding up information flow, CLEAR has turned every oneofficer of the past into 1.2 officers today. Lewin also believesthe system has played a major role in Chicago’s 16 per centreduction in violent crime since CLEAR was launched.Big questions for practitioners, inspired by CLEAR:1) How could you liberate and build on latent communityknowledge about what is really happening in your area?2) Which other services hold useful information about thecommunity that could help inform your work?