By Brock Parker, Town Correspondent
Police in Cambridge, Somerville and Everett will begin sharing information about gangs and habitual violent offenders in an effort to predict and prevent crimes in the three cities.
The collaboration will be lead by the Cambridge Police Department, which was one of 16 sites in the country to be awarded a competitive “Smart Policing Initiative” grant by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Police said in a press release today that the two-year program will have a budget of about $300,0000 and Cambridge Police will be the lead agency.
“I am excited that the Department of Justice recognized the strength of our existing regional partnerships and the potential of our project to bring meaningful results in the emerging field of predictive policing,” said Cambridge Police Lt. Daniel Wagner, who will be the project director.
The three cities will establish standards that will allow the police departments to easily share data and analysis, and they will collaborate with a research partner on the project.
The police departments will create databases of offenders and their known associates in an attempt to predict retaliatory inter-gang violence.