If the police are expected to fight crime effectively, then they need more than the traditional ammunition. They need better information at their fingertips, which means they should have big data at their disposal. Inadequate data not only hampers police work but also endangers the life of the citizens.

The existing system for gathering national crime data is horrendously outdated. Basic information like the latest crimes committed is not updated on time, and no analysis or reports are available on them. This is making it difficult to apply or alter policies and even deploy the right resources at the right time.

While the need for improved data is imperative, budget concerns have stumped further development as the latest FBI efforts to this end proved.

However, it is not just a matter of updates. There are other issues that often go unnoticed in the bigger picture. One such concern is a big gap between actual crime numbers and the official statistics — which means a lot goes unreported, thus skewing the crime data.

A study of annual surveys conducted by the National Crime Victimization Survey, shows that roughly 20 percent of violent crimes go unreported every year, and more than 60 percent of property crimes are not reported. In many cases, these are not given their due importance by the victims or they act under the assumption that the police can’t help.

That is why crime fighters have to look beyond the traditional databases and more to the emerging technologies if they want to keep up or stay ahead of criminals. The FBI has repeatedly stressed the need for analytics to address rising security concerns, and now their Canadian counterpart is doing the same.

As usage of mobile and Internet-based devices increases, the challenge lies in not just gathering the data but also effectively culling it for proper and timely information sharing as well. Big data analytics involves gathering and systematically sifting through this data to ensure timely access to valuable information. This will help fill the information gap faster, help the police anticipate and prepare for crime better, and create all-round efficiencies.

In the wake of the tragic Paris attacks, there is a lot of noise about encrypted communications and how to break into them for public safety.

While this has raised serious concerns over data privacy, law enforcement agencies are focusing strongly on the end-to-end encryptions, which include messaging systems like the Apple iMessage, FaceTime or WhatsApp. They are urging tech companies to work with them and open up these kinds of encrypted communications, but so far they have not been successful.

This is a major portion of the big data that is unavailable, large due to privacy issues. According to law enforcement officials, this is creating a negative effect on their anti-terrorism work. However, tech companies insist the metadata is out there, and it is up to the government to use new technologies to find it.

The rapidly changing and evolving nature of communications technology has paved the way for an exponential increase in the amount of data produced and available. The need of the hour is better technology and innovative techniques so this big data can be sifted through, patterns identified, and crimes analyzed and anticipated better.

This will, in turn, lead to more efficient and effective crime fighting.