It took awhile to transform an idea into a reality that now aids local law enforcement and juvenile authorities in answering three basic questions needed to fight juvenile delinquency in Cleveland and Bradley County.

The three primary questions Youth Services Officer Nancy Stanfield wanted to answer were: Where are juvenile offenders? What are they doing? How does the juvenile court system become more proactive?

Those questions are more readily answered thanks to an innovative idea coming from the staff at Bradley County Juvenile Court, but it took time and perseverance for it to bear fruit. In October 2010, Stanfield came up with the idea for a system that could “map” juvenile offenders.

“I wanted a system that would benefit youth service officers by knowing who their probationers lived near, and what types of crimes were being committed in those areas,” she said.

She also wanted a system capable of being used by other agencies to identify where juvenile offenders lived who had committed certain crimes and what crimes had been committed in certain areas of Bradley County.

via Cleveland Daily Banner – New mapping system targets juvenile crime.