Published on the 20/01/2015 | Written by Clare Coulson
The Kiwi company’s crime analytics software is helping to fight crime globally, most recently the notorious Felony Lane Gang…
The Felony Lane Gang is a co-ordinated group of over 100 thieves in the United States who break into cars to steal victims’ purses, cheque-books and identity cards before forging cheques on the victims’ accounts. It has been operating across the United States for more than five years and is responsible for stealing tens of millions of dollars in at least 34 states.
With the amount of the fraud mounting, a Felony Lane Gang Working Group, comprising 92 law enforcement agencies and other organisations, has been established to help track the perpetrators. It today announced that it will use Wynyard Advanced Crime Analytics and CI Technologies’ CrimeNtel software to strengthen the ongoing investigation into the gang.
According Wynyard, Marion County Sheriff’s Office is responsible for collecting and analysing intelligence data from all the agencies involved in the investigation. It says that the combination of CrimeNtel’s data warehousing system and Wynyard Advanced Crime Analytics will allow crime analysts across the country to access, update and analyse the same set of data. From there they can discover relationships, insights, patterns, anomalies and timelines that can be used to identify and prosecute suspects successfully. Wynyard says its software can help them to gain “often unexpected insights” that can aid investigators to solve crimes faster and more efficiently.
Jeff Hammer, an intelligence analyst with the Sheriff’s Office, explains: “We believe this new combination of technology from Wynyard and CI Technologies will be a major advantage for our analysts and will help us move faster and work smarter in a variety of ways. This gang continues to spread quickly, but putting crime solving analytics in the hands of investigators and intelligence analysts will help keep us ahead of these criminals.”
The gang’s successful technique, which combines operating in low-surveillance areas and using perpetrators who look like their victims to cash the forged cheques, has seen it grow and spread into at least 34 states, even after a number of gang members have been convicted and imprisoned. And the losses are not just confined to the victims and their banks – rental car companies and insurers have suffered losses as well, since the gang often uses rental cars which are then abandoned.
The Felony Lane Gang Working Group is made up of 92 organisations, including state, city and county law enforcement agencies as well as regional groups, selected federal agencies and financial institutions.
