In the beginning
I attended the Florida Crime and Intelligence Analyst Association conference in Jupiter, Florida, in June 2019. Being relatively new to my role as a crime analyst, it was the first industry conference like it that I attended. It was an eye-opener. When I walked into the meeting room on the first day, I immediately noticed how full it was with crime and intelligence analysts from all around the state. It seemed like everyone knew what they were talking about except for me. I immediately realized how lucky I was to meet all those great and wonderful people.
Daniel “DJ” Seals was a keynote speaker for the event. DJ immediately grabbed the attention of the audience. When he told a joke, the room burst into laughter. In serious moments, you could hear a pin drop. He kept us all in that rollercoaster of emotions for an hour. It felt like five minutes.
“You got this!”
I had a chance to talk with DJ after his address. I found him to be a down-to-earth guy who is always willing to help, advise and coach others. It was easy to feel a special connection to DJ. First, we both worked our way up from patrol. Second, we both were narcotics detectives. Third, we both got into crime analysis with little idea of what we were doing. DJ had been in it for so many years that I felt I could count on him whenever I was stuck. Right away he offered to help me in any way he could. All I had to do was call him. DJ knew it was going to take some hard work. After all, he had traveled that road before. But he was optimistic. “You got this,” he said. “There is nothing to it.”
Who is DJ Seals?
In this first episode of The Crime Analyst podcast, we hear from DJ Seals, a retired detective, SWAT operator and crime analyst in the Metro Atlanta area, about his background and experiences. DJ tells the story of how he got involved in crime analysis, in 2009, when he was tasked with creating an intelligence-led policing division at his department in Covington, Georgia. Despite not having any crime analysis experience, he immersed himself in the job and learned as much as he could so he could successfully create and lead this new division.
Education is important
We all know how important education is. We don’t always have the luxury of education coming to us. More often than not we have to go find it. That’s exactly what DJ did when it was time to take on a new role as crime and intelligence analyst. He talks about how he dove right into educating himself and learning as much as he could about the field. DJ very quickly realized how little information there was about crime analysis. He also had to find a way to clean up the CAD and RMS system and get officers to enter the right information.
Many Challenges Ahead
DJ talks about how challenging it can be to get the command staff to buy in. He did not let any of those challenges keep him from continuously working toward making his crime and intelligence analyst unit the best it could be. DJ also shares about the importance of connecting with other analysts, and learning from them. However, connecting with people is not always easy. We all have our own points of view, opinions and ideas. And we may not like to get out of our comfort zone and do it. Yet we know how important it is for this line of work. DJ offers suggestions for how to connect with officers and help close the gap between crime and intelligence analysts, and officers.
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