Using Data Mining to Identify Patterns in Hostile Surveillance

RTI will partner with the Washington DC Metro Police Department to explore the feasibility of using a data-mining process to generate useful information from "suspicious activity reports" reported by citizens. The projects primary goal is to determine whether a complex set of suspicious activity reports can feasibly be explored and modeled using data mining. The grantee will determine if the data can be successfully modeled and if the resulting information can be quantified in a way that would be useful for generating recommendations for targeted terrorism prevention and deterrence efforts. The data mining process will be used to identify trends, patterns, and complex relationships not obvious through traditional analytical methods. The analysis will focus on identifying common behavioral attributes or characteristics that can be used to differentiate and categorize suspicious activity into smaller, relatively homogeneous groups. ca/ncf