Power BI for Crime Analysts

Name: Power BI for Crime Analysts
Rating: 4.7 (87 reviews)

Analyze RMS and CAD data easily with Power BI

Created byCharley Giberti

Last updated 8/2025

English

English [Auto],

What you'll learn

Connect Power BI to common police data sources, including Records Management Systems (RMS) and Computer Assisted Dispatch (CAD)
Create Basic Visualizations in Power BI
Model data to create multidimmensional dashboards
Use AI to write DAX statements to create additional data structures

Course content

12 sections • 60 lectures • 4h 27m total length

Introduction to the course2:24
In this section we'll outline the course, learning objectives and let students know what to expect throughout the course. We'll also introduce the course's final product that students will learn how to build step-by-step.
Course Materials3:16
Our end product1:58
Map settings- my maps aren't showing up!2:21
In the previous session, we reviewed a finished product that we'll create together step-by-step. Map visuals may not show up when you first open our final product dashboard. If that's the case, this video outlines the steps you'll need to take to enable map visuals. If you can't troubleshoot this issue on your own, don't worry, we'll re-visit enabling map visualizations later in the course.

Connecting to Excel Data4:22
Using data sources common to law enforcement agencies, we will demonstrate how analysts can connect directly to relational databases ( CAD & RMS) , MS Access databases, MS Excel and other common data sources.
Other Data Sources2:02
Power BI connects to a wide range of data sources, including flat files like CSV and CAD data. Refresh data in Model View to keep dashboards up to date.
Saving and Auto Recovery1:54
Save frequently in Power BI by using file save or save as, note there isn’t an auto save feature, and enable auto recovery with five or thirty minute intervals.

Text and Pictures2:49
A quick note on your data2:06
Cards12:14
Click off!1:42
Slicers5:15
Pie & Ring Graphs3:52
Create and customize pie and ring charts in Power BI dashboards to compare yes/no victim injury counts, using legend fields and formatting options.
Bar Graphs6:38
Matrices5:39
Line Charts12:02
Maps: Lat/Long4:30
Maps: Addresses4:26
My maps won't work! What to do with no mapping permissions2:21
If you're not able to create maps due to organizational permissions, view this video for 3 work around options.
Improving address mapping for small jurisdictions1:52
Improve address mapping in Power BI for small jurisdictions by hard-coding a zip in the address field to tighten clustering around major cities like Las Vegas.
Maps: ESRI Maps4:32
Explore Esri maps in Power BI, with login options and layers from the Esri catalog. Visualize crime data using points, heatmaps, and clustering, and switch between Esri and Bing maps.
Additional Visualizations4:24

Introduction to relational databases7:45
Understand how relational databases use tables, rows, and columns to model one-to-one and one-to-many relationships between reports, offenses, suspects, and victims, enabling sql queries and edge lists for link charts.
Data Modeling 1017:16
Filtering CAD + RMS Simultaneously - Zones9:12
Build a Power BI model to filter Ms. offenses and CAD by zone, create a zone lookup, and configure one-to-many relationships with slicers.
Filtering CAD + RMS Simultaneously - Dates8:48
Filter CAD + RMS Simultaneously- Officer Names6:03
Finishing up our dashboard3:02
Finish building the Ms. and cad dashboard by adding visuals, copying cards, and creating bar and line graphs with coherent axes, and model slicers for Officer Bailey's calls for service.
Day of Week/ Hour of Day Heat Map - What not to do4:41
Day of Week / Hour of Day Heat Maps- What to do7:16

What is a measure?2:13
Start your COMPSTAT table1:11
Create a simple Power BI table, add UCR groups as the first column to build the CompStat view, then prepare to include counts and percent changes in upcoming steps.
Previous 28, 90, YTD Counts5:10
Build a compstat table in Power BI by creating DAX measures for current year-to-date counts, previous year-to-date counts, 28-day counts, a three-year average, and percent changes with conditional formatting.
Formatting your COMPSTAT table5:33
COMPSTAT Conditional Formatting3:26
Date Dynamic Measures - 28 day & 90 Day Counts5:54
Date Dynamic Measures - Part 23:03
Date Dynamic Measures - Part 33:21
Learn to implement three-year averages in Power BI by adjusting date ranges with max date logic, updating 28-day, 90-day, and year-to-date measures, and validating data constraints.

Workup 1: Introduction to the suspect workup product.4:03
Workup 2: Start with slicers!8:22
Let's start modeling in an offer workup dashboard!
Workup 3: Offender Map1:30
Workup 4: Narratives2:06
In Power BI, link the offenses table to incident numbers to display narratives for selected incidents in a resizable table for officers.
Workup 5: Known Associates3:21
Workup 6: Known Associates II4:43
Create a new table named person event two with DAX to link to Ms offenses, forming a one-to-many relationship with a single cross filter, enabling name-based filtering of connected people.

Requirements

No programming experience needed

Description

This comprehensive course is your ultimate guide to mastering Power BI, tailored specifically for professionals in law enforcement and public safety. Unlike other courses that focus on generic business data, this course is uniquely designed to help you understand and work with data structures commonly found in state and local police departments.

Focusing on key datasets such as CAD (Computer-Aided Dispatch) and RMS (Records Management System) data, you’ll learn how to clean, transform, and analyze these complex datasets to generate actionable insights. Whether you're a beginner or looking to advance your skills, this course will equip you with the tools and techniques necessary to create powerful visualizations used in modern crime analysis workflows.

Key topics include:

Crime Maps and Geospatial Analysis: Learn how to create detailed crime maps using Power BI’s integration with GIS tools, providing spatial insights essential for understanding crime patterns and trends.
COMPSTAT Dashboards: Build dynamic visualizations for tracking crime statistics, highlighting year-over-year trends, and supporting COMPSTAT meetings with clear, actionable data.
Problem-Oriented Policing Support: Develop visuals that pinpoint hotspots, identify root causes of recurring issues, and monitor the success of problem-oriented interventions.
Intelligence-Led Policing Tools: Use Power BI to visualize data that supports intelligence-driven strategies, including linking offenders, locations, and offenses for better resource allocation.
Stratified Policing Visualizations: Design reports and dashboards that align with the levels of analysis required in stratified policing frameworks, from tactical to strategic assessments.

What you'll learn:

Data preparation: Transform CAD and RMS data into clean, usable formats.
Crime trend analysis: Visualize patterns in time and geography to identify actionable insights.
Spatial analysis: Integrate geospatial tools to map offenses, calls for service, and officer activity.
Custom visualizations: Create heat maps, bar charts, scatter plots, and other visuals tailored to law enforcement workflows.
Advanced dashboards: Combine visualizations into interactive dashboards for operational, tactical, and strategic crime analysis.

This course is ideal for crime analysts, law enforcement officers, and public safety professionals looking to enhance their data analysis capabilities. By the end of the course, you’ll be able to build robust Power BI dashboards and reports that drive informed decision-making and directly support initiatives like COMPSTAT, problem-oriented policing, intelligence-led policing, and stratified policing.

Don’t miss the opportunity to revolutionize how you analyze and present crime data—enroll today and start building insights that make your community safer.

Who this course is for:

Crime analysts looking to learn Power BI to improve day-to-day operations within their department

Power BI for Crime Analysts

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Introduction4 lectures • 10min

Getting Started3 lectures • 8min

Common Data Visualizations in PowerBI15 lectures • 1hr 14min

Introduction to DAX Functions4 lectures • 22min

Custom Tooltips3 lectures • 8min

Data Modeling8 lectures • 54min

Measures8 lectures • 30min

Bookmarks and Buttons2 lectures • 9min

Sharing3 lectures • 10min

Building an intelligence product6 lectures • 24min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: