![\"StephanieSikinger1\"](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2016\/11\/StephanieSikinger1-300x200-300x200.jpg\")
Crime analysis is a fairly new specialty, and Sikinger didn\u2019t find her path to it directly. Like many college students, she started at 51ÁÔÆæ not sure of what type of career she wanted. She initially took courses in journalism because she was intrigued by the idea of investigative journalism.<\/p>\n
She switched to the criminal justice program and enrolled in what was probably the university\u2019s first crime analysis course as a graduate student. A class trip to the Milwaukee Police Department\u2019s Intelligence Fusion Center opened her eyes to a new career possibility.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was like the lightbulb and the epiphany moment\u2026 I said, \u2018This is it. This is what I want to do.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
That visit led to a chance to job shadow Nicole DeMotto, the crime analyst she met on the field trip, and eventually a volunteer internship at the center, and then a full-time job.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a growing field, Sikinger said. Just as she benefited from her work at 51ÁÔÆæ, students from 51ÁÔÆæ\u2019s program are helping the department. Four recent interns have been hired because their preparation through 51ÁÔÆæ allows them to hit the ground running, she said.\u00a0 The Intelligence Fusion Center has grown from three analysts when she started four years ago to nine currently. Another analyst is embedded with the Homicide Department, and six or seven more work on long-term strategies with the department\u2019s Office of Management and Planning.<\/p>\n
The work of an analyst varies every day, and depends on where he or she is working. The chief or police administration might need information to respond to a media request or do a presentation. Or an officer might want more background on a house at the center of numerous calls in a neighborhood. The tools she and her team use range from geographic information systems to data mining.<\/p>\n
This summer, for example, Flynn credited the center\u2019s collaborative work with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives with tracking down the original purchaser of a gun used to shoot a police officer.<\/p>\n
The key skill analysts bring is helping the officers sift through mountains of data to find the patterns \u2013 and the anomalies. \u201cThey can\u2019t just say \u2018give me everything you\u2019ve got,\u2019” she said. \u201cWe need to work with them to find out what is the problem they\u2019re trying to solve. It\u2019s building a relationship and digging into a question.\u201d<\/p>\n
More and more officers are coming to the center for help. Sikinger does training sessions for those interested at the department and at the police academy to show how crime analysis works. Her message: \u201cWhat I want to do is help you do your job better, more efficiently, to make your life a little easier.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of the work focuses on predictive intelligence, which looks for patterns and tries to prevent the next crime. Outbreaks of burglaries are good examples, according to Sikinger.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe look at vehicles involved and suspect descriptions or things that were taken and try to see if there are things in common,\u201d Sikinger said. \u201cWe try to assist the officers and detectives generate leads and provide actionable intelligence.\u201d<\/p>\n
And sometimes, the work can help solve crimes. One case Sikinger particularly remembers involved a serial rapist. Working with officers, she and another analyst started with a nickname and connected it to two investigative leads.\u00a0 Further analysis of the leads revealed a potential suspect and current address in another jurisdiction. They also found he had an outstanding warrant. Officers in that jurisdiction arrested the suspect on that warrant. That allowed them to collect DNA, which, in turn, was linked to several sexual assault cases across multiple jurisdictions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a good feeling knowing we helped with that case,\u201d Sikinger said. \u201cThat person can no longer harm anybody anymore partly because of the work that we did. That was huge. It was a really good day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Stephanie Sikinger doesn\u2019t use traditional tactics to fight crime. Her preferred tools are a computer and a mountain of data.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":835,"featured_media":40076,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174],"tags":[250],"section":[135,137],"display_categories":[115,116],"related-coverage":[],"uwmnews-feed":[167,347,156,155],"class_list":["post-40075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-student-success","section-health","section-public-health","display_categories-top-story-secondary","display_categories-top-story-section","uwmnews-feed-alumni-association","uwmnews-feed-community-engagement-professions","uwmnews-feed-criminal-justice","uwmnews-feed-social-welfare-criminal-justice"],"yoast_head":"\n