{"id":628172,"date":"2023-10-31T19:59:36","date_gmt":"2023-11-01T02:59:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=arcnews&p=628172"},"modified":"2023-10-25T07:49:27","modified_gmt":"2023-10-25T14:49:27","slug":"intelligence-analyst-empowers-colleagues-across-the-nypd-with-gis","status":"publish","type":"arcnews","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcnews\/intelligence-analyst-empowers-colleagues-across-the-nypd-with-gis","title":{"rendered":"Intelligence Analyst Empowers Colleagues Across the NYPD with GIS"},"author":5752,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[325892,10372,369792],"tags":[279512,276152,476042,160532,137872],"arcnews_issues":[486972],"class_list":["post-628172","arcnews","type-arcnews","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arcgis-story-maps","category-gis-hero","category-location-intelligence","tag-geoint","tag-law-enforcement","tag-new-york-city","tag-police","tag-terrorism","arcnews_issues-fall-2023","arcnews_sections-gis-people"],"acf":{"short_description":"An intelligence analyst transforms NYPD\u2019s use of GIS technology, empowering colleagues to enhance investigations and operations.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"\u201cI love GIS. I\u2019m passionate about it,\u201d said Hayley Gerkman, intelligence research specialist for the New York Police Department\u2019s (NYPD) Intelligence and Counterterrorism Bureau. \u201cI just want people to use it and love it as much as I do because I know how effective it is.\u201d\r\n\r\nThroughout her career, Gerkman has been a change agent for GIS by building relationships and trust with colleagues and showing them how the technology\u2014and geointelligence in general\u2014can enhance their work. She understands the importance of using the geographic approach to solve critical and urgent problems. And she makes bold moves to achieve her goals.\r\n\r\n\u201cShe\u2019s in a division at the NYPD\u2014counterterrorism and intelligence\u2014that\u2019s naturally isolated, and she\u2019s a woman and a civilian. Yet she\u2019s gone in there and demonstrated with hands-on technology in real-life situations why the geographic approach and ArcGIS technology can really move the needle not only in intelligence but also across the NYPD,\u201d said Dave LaShell, Esri\u2019s account manager for the NYPD. \u201cIt\u2019s a really forward-thinking way for the NYPD to operate.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cShe doesn\u2019t just sling apps for presentations either,\u201d echoed Nadine Hughes, program manager for the NYPD\u2019s Esri Advantage Program. \u201cShe provides an easier way for people across the organization to access the GIS data and technology they need. That\u2019s a real leadership move.\u201d\r\n\r\nGerkman says she was into maps as a kid growing up in Colorado. So when she entered the University of Colorado to study geography and sociology with emphases in GIS, cartography, and criminology, it was no surprise that she liked mapping technology.\r\n\r\n\u201cIt was partially because someone lied to me and told me I\u2019d make, like, $100,000 straight out of college in 2003,\u201d she joked. \u201cBut really, I just fell in love with it.\u201d\r\n\r\nAfter college, Gerkman took a job as a digital imagery analyst at Space Imaging (which was later bought out by DigitalGlobe, now known as Esri partner Maxar). She stitched together imagery from the India Remote Sensing satellite system, verifying the images\u2019 accuracy.\r\n\r\n\u201cThere weren\u2019t too many commercial satellite companies at the time, so this was kind of an up-and-coming thing,\u201d Gerkman said.\r\n\r\nShe found it intriguing to work with imagery and believes that this experience helped her advance her career later on. But she missed using GIS, so her next position was as a GIS technician at Premier Data Services, Inc. Taking land parcel records kept on microfiche, she developed a GIS model of the Bureau of Land Management\u2019s land grid in several states. She also did a stint as a geospatial analyst for engineering consulting firm Michael Baker International, where she helped map the national pipeline system for the Department of Homeland Security."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":628292,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"From there, Gerkman landed a job as a geospatial intelligence analyst at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). She was initially assigned to the Levant team, which covers Syria, Lebanon, and Israel. She liked the work, especially since she was one of the few GIS analysts among imagery specialists. But she\u2019d always wanted to be in law enforcement. So when a position detailed to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) soon opened up within the NGA, Gerkman went for it\u2014despite the position being one or two pay bands above her level at the time. She got it.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe FBI had just started its journey into GIS, so we were supporting their efforts as they stood up their GIS program,\u201d Gerkman said.\r\n\r\nShe worked on a smaller team that was doing regional intelligence. When her supervisory special agent received a promotion, Gerkman followed her to the counterterrorism unit.\r\n\r\n\u201cThat was very cool,\u201d Gerkman said. \u201cI got to work on a bunch of terrorism cases and did a lot of [collaborative] work.\u201d\r\n\r\nHer supervisory special agent was promoted again, so Gerkman accompanied her to the FBI\u2019s Washington Field Office.\r\n\r\n\u201cThey had just set up a [GIS] team, and there were a couple of analysts who were really eager to use the technology,\u201d Gerkman remembered. \u201cWe all worked together to try to build up the Washington Field Office\u2019s group. It was wonderful.\u201d\r\n\r\nAfter spending six years in Washington, DC, however, Gerkman became restless and wanted to move.\r\n\r\n\u201cOn a whim, I was able to get a 30-day tour-of-duty change,\u201d she said. This sent her to New York City. \u201cI just said, \u2018I\u2019ve got 30 days to convince them that I need to stay up here.\u2019 And in 30 days, I convinced them that the New York Field Office really needed me.\u201d\r\n\r\nUntil Gerkman got to the FBI\u2019s New York Field Office, the team had never really used GIS or geospatial intelligence (GEOINT).\r\n\r\n\u201cIntelligence is already complicated, but in New York, I always had to think outside the box and say, \u2018How can GEOINT enhance all these investigations?\u2019\u201d she mused. \u201cBecause they weren\u2019t familiar with GIS, I was constantly marketing it and coming up with creative ways to show agents how it would enhance their cases and be the technology they never knew they needed.\u201d\r\n\r\nAccording to LaShell, that\u2019s what Gerkman excels at.\r\n\r\n\u201cShe doesn\u2019t overwhelm people with tech,\u201d he said. \u201cShe always knows which person to go to and builds a relationship with them before bringing forward the relevant technology. She goes to the right people with the right idea all the time.\u201d\r\n\r\nAfter six years in New York, the NGA tried to call Gerkman back to Washington, DC. But she and her wife had built a life in Brooklyn, where they\u2019d started raising two sons. They wanted to stay. Gerkman contacted a former colleague to see if the NYPD had any openings in intelligence. The agency did. Thus began a new journey.\r\n\r\n\u201cWhen I came in, I was shocked to find out that the NYPD had just set up a contract with Esri. I wondered how they did GIS before,\u201d Gerkman recalled. \u201cSo I was an intelligence analyst working cases, but I also started showing them the ways of GIS. Just like at the FBI, it\u2019s an uphill battle because I have to show every single person a way that GIS can help them. And how can I reach 55,000 people\u2014and 30,000 police officers\u2014with the one-woman show I\u2019m running? There\u2019s so much capability, and there are so many different use cases.\u201d\r\n\r\nBut she\u2019s doing it. Gerkman often shows up to important briefings with leaders up and down the NYPD chain of command with visual aids she\u2019s built using ArcGIS StoryMaps that show the evolution of a situation or an event\u2014complete with photos, videos, and interactive maps. One project that this was particularly effective for was an initiative to clean up graffiti around the city.\r\n\r\n\u201cLaw Enforcement Explorers, who are kids that participate in an NYPD program for them, go to sites that the community has labeled as graffiti-filled and clean them up,\u201d Gerkman explained. \u201cThe commissioner wanted me to map out everything so each precinct could identify where they wanted the kids to go paint. As these groups were going out and painting and posting about it on social media, we were live-updating the public-facing map. You could see the progress and click on a point and see the before-and-after photos. It was so successful. I believe it was the first time we\u2019d ever done anything like that.\u201d\r\n\r\nDeveloping proof-of-concept projects like this can really elevate GIS within an organization, according to Gerkman. She advises current and aspiring geospatial leaders to be strong communicators who can get their points across quickly and effectively.\r\n\r\n\u201cThat helps people get excited about GIS, and then you can start leading them toward using it more often,\u201d she said. \u201cNow that people at the NYPD are more aware of what GIS is, it\u2019s easier for them to incorporate it into their everyday work and analytical projects.\u201d\r\n\r\nGerkman recently became a certified trainer through the State of New York and is building the first GEOINT course for the NYPD. She hopes this can help expose more people to the powers of GIS and empower them to use it themselves.\r\n\r\n\u201cMaybe I\u2019ll be out of a job soon,\u201d she quipped."},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Center","content":"Read other articles in the GIS Heroes<\/a> series.","snippet":""}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"\nIntelligence Analyst Empowers Colleagues Across the NYPD with GIS | Fall 2023 | ArcNews<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An intelligence analyst transforms NYPD\u2019s use of GIS technology, empowering colleagues to enhance investigations and operations.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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