LexisNexis Risk Solutions Law Enforcement Technology Insight Survey Reveals Impact of COVID-19 on Criminal Activity Challenges

10/01/2020

WASHINGTON, DC — LexisNexis® Risk Solutions today released its second annual Law Enforcement Technology Insight Survey, which explores the daily challenges, administrative responsibilities and data needs of all levels of federal, state and local law enforcement across the country.

The survey ⸺conducted in July and August of 2020 ⸺reveals significant shifts in the top challenges law enforcement faces as the ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic grip the U.S.

“The mass unemployment caused by the pandemic and the hardships this has created for so many has elevated the challenge of property crime and violent crimes for law enforcement. Law enforcement ranked violent crime as its lowest challenge last year and as its second most significant challenge this year,” said Tom Sizer, senior director, Public Safety Market Planning at LexisNexis Risk Solutions.

• 73 percent of respondents indicated that property crime was among their top three challenges, up from 65 percent in 2019. Even more dramatic is the increased challenge of violent crimes, with 64 percent noting it among their top three challenges - up from just 10 percent in 2019.
• Opioids, which respondents most consistently identified as a top three challenge in 2019 (72 percent of respondents), dropped to 60 percent in 2020.
• 72 percent of law enforcement would prefer to see and share data nationwide vs. regionally – up from 66 percent in 2019.
• While more law enforcement agencies are sharing their data with other agencies, privacy concerns, inter-agency cooperation and IT resources remain barriers to data sharing.

“The growing percent of law enforcement who prefer to see and share agency data nationwide highlights the importance of arming law enforcement leaders with data solutions that are easy to deploy, increase data accuracy and relevancy for optimal analysis, and effectively identify patterns that enable them to pinpoint and respond to existing and emergent threats,” Sizer added.

LexisNexis Risk Solutions equips law enforcement with a variety of comprehensive tools for targeting investigations and creating dashboards that link billions of public records – including crime reports, calls for service, crash reports, license plate records, jail bookings and more – to enable intelligence-driven decision making. Visit: https://risk.lexisnexis.com/law-enforcementand-public-safety to learn more.

About LexisNexis Risk Solutions
LexisNexis Risk Solutions harnesses the power of data and advanced analytics to provide insights that help businesses and governmental entities reduce risk and improve decisions to benefit people around the globe. We provide data and technology solutions for a wide range of industries including insurance, financial services, healthcare and government. Headquartered in metro Atlanta, Georgia, we have offices throughout the world and are part of RELX (LSE: REL/NYSE: RELX), a global provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers across industries. For more information, please visit www.risk.lexisnexis.com and www.relx.com.