ArcView GIS Mapping on CBS's The District

During the 2000-2001 television season, ESRI provided GIS support for CBS's police drama, The District. ArcView is featured in each weekly episode as part of the comparative statistics (COMSTAT) process. Using a GIS, the police force is able to map crime throughout Washington, D.C., and solve a variety of problems.

The District, a drama inspired by the real-life experiences of former New York Deputy Police Commissioner Jack Maple, revolves around Jack Mannion (Craig T. Nelson), a tenacious champion of the underdog and avowed crime fighter, whose revolutionary tactics resulted in a 50 percent drop in crime, first in Boston, then in Newark, New Jersey.

When the controversial mayor of Washington, D.C., Ethan Baker (John Amos), needs to hire a new police chief, Deputy Mayor Jayne Brook (Mary Ann Mitchell) champions Mannion for the job, hoping the outsider can clean up the streets of her hometown. Washington, D.C., with more law enforcement agencies than any other city in the world, is riddled with crime, and its local police department is demoralized and ineffective.

Appointed chief of police by the mayor, Mannion is greeted with hostility, but with the help of his public relations whiz kid, Nick Pierce (Justin Theroux), sets out to revitalize the Metro force. Along the way, he recruits Ella Farmer (Lynne Thigpen), a hardworking statistics clerk and GIS specialist, and Temple Page (Sean Patrick Thomas), a young former Marine.

Ella is put in charge of a high-tech briefing room (COMSTAT) that uses ArcView and ArcInfo. They tackle a variety of criminal and social problems, and Temple becomes Mannion's eyes and ears on the most crime-ridden, drug-infested streets in America. Danny McGregor (David O'Hara), a Royal Ulster Constabulary cop from Belfast, and Nancy Parras (Elizabeth Marvel), an intuitive officer working as Mannion's assistant, round out the chief's inner circle. Together, Mannion and his team form a modern-day "Untouchables," determined to make the district livable for all its citizens.