1. ICU Workbench
Customers
Customers Success and Use Cases
IntroducƟon
The ICU Workbench is a soŌware tool used to analyze tracking data. It performs the data analysis in minutes and
provides a user-friendly interface to interact with the results. The soŌware is currently in use by State and Local
Police, Federal Police, Intelligence OrganizaƟons, and Militaries in the Western world. In addiƟon to a broad user
base, the ICU Workbench is also in the current Surveillance Training curriculum at the US DHS Federal Law
Enforcement Training Center (FLETC). The Suite of products is currently made up of a number of key funcƟonal
elements:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Core analyƟcal product
External Events
MulƟ-Target Analysis
Target PredicƟons module
Side-by-Side Track Compare
Over the 3 years that the soŌware has been operaƟonal with our customers, a number of specific uses for the
technology have come to light. This document is an aƩempt to capture some of those use cases, and where
possible, document the success directly from the customer. However, in most cases with customers in the NaƟonal
Security and Intelligence market, we are unable to provide documentaƟon that can be used for a reference.
ConfidenƟal – Do Not Distribute
1
2. Core AnalyƟcal Product
The ICU Workbench’s analyƟcal engine is our core technology. It is used to idenƟfy a target’s PaƩern of Life (PoL): a
clear visual presentaƟon of the travel paƩerns and desƟnaƟons that the target frequents. All of this intelligence is
provided in a way that is easy to understand, report and disseminate. We have a number of success stories about
the effecƟveness of our technology.
Months into minutes – Federal Agency
One Federal customer that does analyze tracking data in detail has told us repeatedly that our soŌware has taken
months of their team’s analyƟcal efforts and condensed it to minutes, providing them the ability to focus on analyzing
the intelligence, rather than producing the base products. Another Federal Analyst indicates that our core soŌware
reduces the amount of manual effort she would otherwise have allocated to the analysis by 40 days per year.
Geƫng InvesƟgators back on the street, saving money – Major City PD
Our tool provides enough Ɵme savings for one City PD to offload the analyƟcal work being done by an invesƟgator onto
our tool – allowing him to get back on the street and perform his job. The Ɵme savings in using our tool has been
quanƟfied by numerous organizaƟons. We rouƟnely hear from clients, including a NarcoƟcs Task Force, that our
soŌware saves them up to a day a week in manual effort per analyst/invesƟgator.
Force mulƟplier, PracƟce Leader – NarcoƟcs Task Force
We have a leƩer of reference documenƟng a NarcoƟcs task force’s posiƟon on our technology. They say that the ICU
Workbench is “a comprehensive tacƟcal intelligence toolkit” that is now being used to exploit locaƟon data from GPS
Trackers, exploited phones, navigaƟon systems and Call Detail Records (CDR). They also say that because the ease of
use of the ICU Workbench, they are able to uncover intelligence that was missed before, because it was too Ɵmeconsuming to idenƟfy.
IdenƟfying Home and Work of Targets – Military Police
A customer bought a significant quanƟty of our tool aŌer we were given tracking data and our soŌware found the
target’s actual home and work locaƟons within 90 seconds. This customer said that classifying those locaƟons took
them weeks to figure out using physical surveillance because of the target’s complex travel paƩerns.
Call Detail Record Analysis (Cellular CDR) – Major City PD
A key data source for law enforcement surveillance is telephone call detail records (CDR). These records are generated
by the cellular providers when a cell phone interacts with the cellular network. A record is created for all interacƟons; ie
incoming call, outgoing sms etc. These records include the tower that the cell phone was communicaƟng with as well as
ConfidenƟal – Do Not Distribute
2
3. the date and Ɵme of the event. CDRs are stored by the cellular providers and can be accessed by law enforcement via
court order.
By the nature of how the records are generated (incoming or outgoing call/msg acƟvity) the data can have long
duraƟon gaps between phone events. Using the ICU Workbench soŌware, ploƫng and analyzing the data was made
much easier and faster. As the locaƟons are tower-based the target could easily be communicaƟng with a number of
different towers. The ICU Workbench easily solved the difficulty of ploƫng the tower locaƟons and organizing the data
into an iƟnerary. It also generated a desƟnaƟon list of where the target stayed and for how long. These desƟnaƟons can
then be grouped together to cluster locaƟons. This clarifies the inherent wander as the phone is passed from tower to
tower by the carrier providing insight into the geography the target is operaƟng in.
Having one plaƞorm to view CDR data as well as tradiƟon GPS data from tracking devices makes for efficient and
effecƟve analysis. Combining data streams into one program eases both the training requirements and provides one
output for the invesƟgator/operator use.
Trainee EvaluaƟon (E&E) – Military
Our soŌware is being used to evaluate trainees on an escape and evasion course. The trainees have a GPS tracker, and
are then sent out over a period of many days to move from one locaƟon to another without being observed. They are
required to use specific tacƟcs and technics during their travels. Our tool analyzes the data from the trainees to
illustrate tacƟcal errors, and to help evaluate their progress.
De-conflicƟng Under Cover operators/operaƟons – Major City PD
A Major PD with large drug, gang, and organized crime units operaƟng under cover in the same geography is using our
tool to report on all the UC and CI acƟvity in order to de-conflict operaƟons and enhance officer safety. The data being
used in this effort is a stock report that has each target’s locaƟons documented.
Data fusion: Non-tracking data becomes a Tracking dataset – Federal Law Enforcement Agency
The data that our tool can analyze is not limited to only GPS fixes. One large organizaƟon has challenged us by providing
data from financial transacƟons (Credit Card and ATM), subway records, AutomaƟc License Plate recogniƟon data, and
cellular and landline phone informaƟon. Using sparse data from these disparate sources, our tool builds a complete and
integrated track.
Analyst in a Box – Federal Government OrganizaƟon
In situaƟons where operators are forward deployed and have limited access to analyƟcal resources (Disadvantaged
Users), or where communicaƟons are difficult and Ɵme is of the essence – the ICU Workbench can serve as an “analyst
in a box” allowing operators to process tracking data in the field and then plan/execute missions based on the results.
This allows for the intelligence results to be as current as possible, increasing future mission effecƟveness.
Changing How Orders Are WriƩen – Federal Police
The administraƟve process to install a tracker has become more challenging. AŌer using the ICU Workbench, this
Federal Agency conƟnues to do the difficult work to get tracking warrants/orders because they know that the value of
the intelligence product our soŌware delivers far exceeds the administraƟve effort to get the court order.
ConfidenƟal – Do Not Distribute
3
4. External Events
External Events is a capability that allows an operator/analyst to add external data in order to understand if and
how targets are related to the specific event. For example, if an IED detonated at a specific Ɵme and place that
informaƟon would be entered as an external event and the ICU Workbench will help the user see if the tracked
target could be associated with that event.
Catching Break and Enter suspect – Major City PD
During their iniƟal training on the soŌware, a Major Canadian city PD entered in break-and-enter events into our
External events module. Our soŌware idenƟfied a suspect that was within a few hundred meters of a property that was
robbed. This suspect had given a Police statement that said he was not in the area at the Ɵme of the break-in. AcƟon
was taken to immediately apprehend the suspect.
MulƟMulƟ-Target
MulƟ-Target is a capability to find correlaƟons between mulƟple tracks. The ICU Workbench ships with the
capability to do 1xN correlaƟons – which means that when selecƟng a track you can find any of the other tracks in
a group that are related to that one. Our Advanced MulƟ-Target module provides full NxN correlaƟon extracƟon. It
also idenƟfies potenƟal dead-drop acƟvity and common locaƟons across mulƟple targets.
Discovering meeƟngs between two previously unrelated narcoƟcs gangs – NarcoƟcs Task Force
Using operaƟonal data for their training on the ICU Workbench, a NarcoƟcs Task Force idenƟfied meeƟngs between two
groups of criminals that had been previously thought to not work together. It was further idenƟfied, because of the
nature of the meeƟng, that the physical surveillance teams may have been observed. The teams were noƟfied of the
potenƟal observaƟon in an effort to maximize the safety of the surveillance unit.
ConfidenƟal – Do Not Distribute
4
5. Understanding Organized Crime Hierarchies and prioriƟzing missions – NarcoƟcs Task Force
A NarcoƟcs Task Force unit using our standard mulƟ-target analysis tool (while they eagerly await our Advanced MulƟTarget module) described the 1xN funcƟonality as: “By far the most beneficial feature has been the mulƟ-track report
that has allowed us to idenƟfy common residences and targets previously unknown. These have directly led to the
creaƟon of high priority targets and iniƟaƟon of new and larger conspiracy cases.”
PredicƟons
PredicƟons provides a summary of the targets behavior based on past tracking data. It determines the most likely
acƟviƟes and locaƟons of a target at any specific Ɵme based on a user-defined predicƟon thresh hold. The
predicƟons are listed from most likely to least likely. This provides surveillance teams with a ranked list of likely
locaƟons of the target. The data is presented in the “PaƩern-of-Life” User Interface that is common in our
applicaƟon.
Maximize the efficiency of deploying surveillance teams – Major City PD
Due to budget constraints, many Police Departments are concerned with the cost and effecƟveness of their surveillance
teams. Our predicƟons module can allow teams to prioriƟze and find the most likely locaƟons of all the targets they are
watching instead of using a more tradiƟonal “shot-gun” approach to target acquisiƟon.
ConfidenƟal – Do Not Distribute
5
6. BaƩery planning for other surveillance equipment installaƟons – Military Advisor
The PredicƟons module provides a target’s typical PaƩern-of-Life Summary. This summary can be very effecƟve in
calculaƟng baƩery requirements and managing baƩery consumpƟon for deep audio and video installaƟons. The
PredicƟons modules delivers a very clear picture of how oŌen, and for how long a target visits a specific locaƟon –
thereby allowing a team to quickly do baƩery calculaƟons based on the desired mission duraƟon.
Providing best Ɵmes/places for Tech Ops (Mission Planning) - Federal Law Enforcement Agency
Intelligence Analysts are frequently asked “what is the safest Ɵme for me to recover the tracker from the vehicle”,
change baƩeries, or install audio/video equipment. Our PredicƟons module is used to plan these types of missions to
ensure maximum officer safety and mission success by quickly idenƟfying the best mission opportuniƟes.
MulƟMulƟ-Track Compare
MulƟ-Track Compare (MulƟView) is a new module that allows a user to see the daily acƟvity from mulƟple tracks at
the same Ɵme.
IdenƟfying Related Network Behaviour - Federal Law Enforcement Agency
MulƟView can be used to see where a large number of targets were at a specified Ɵme. This is valuable to idenƟfy
linkages from temporal events to targets by evaluaƟng targets behavior aŌer an event has taken place. As an example,
a Gang leader was apprehended at 11am. By looking at all the target’s travel immediately following 11am, an analyst
can see how the targets reacted aŌer the arrest. The invesƟgators were able to confirm by the targets behaviours which
of them were directly related to the gang.
ConfidenƟal – Do Not Distribute
6