Textron [TXT] recently introduced an upgraded version of its IMPACT information analysis software that is being used by local law enforcement agencies to help them sort through data to create actionable information about criminal activity.
With IMPACT 2.0, Textron has created a more extensible software that is useful to smaller customers as well as larger ones such as Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the FBI, John Percy, vice president of Textron Systems Advanced Systems Overwatch business, told sister publication HSR.
The IMPACT technology is based on software analytic tools the company has developed for the Army the past 15 years and that are also in use by the intelligence community, including the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization. Following the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which are asymmetric conflicts as opposed to force on force, the company was able to use the software to help sift through large amounts of data from various sources to find patterns of activity related to finding terrorist threats. From that, Textron realized it could use the technology and apply it to finding criminal and gang threats for law enforcement purposes, Percy said. The data can come from sources as different as license plates, criminal reports, photos of tattoos, and others to aid law enforcement both to help prevent crime and to respond to crime, he said.
Textron said its semi-automated IMPACT tool is also cost effective.