Fighting Crime Through Data and Innovation

When talking about his work at Booz Allen supporting the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and other federal law enforcement clients, Principal Patrick Kelly says, “It’s not just a job, it’s always been a calling.”

Patrick draws motivation from getting to work for millions of people across the United States: families impacted by the opioid and fentanyl crises, students threatened by school shootings, and everyone who benefits from a safe, secure, and strong nation.

Here, Patrick shares highlights from his team’s projects in data modernization, from overhauling IT systems to strengthening cybersecurity and to bringing data analytics, AI, and machine learning (ML) to civilian missions. He also talks about why this work is so vital and why he chose Booz Allen after retiring from a career as a DEA special agent.

One advantage technology brings to government agencies is the ability to get more done within finite budget and staffing parameters.

“Nobody is getting more agents, and nobody is getting more intel analysts,” Patrick explains. “But what they are getting more of is data.”

Across the DEA, for example, information is constantly streaming in about criminal networks, drug seizures, overdoses, and more. Data analytics coupled with AI and ML tools triangulates this data into a view of what’s happening where. These insights can guide leaders to put the right agents in the right place at the right time, while allocating their financial resources smartly as well.

Data modernization also helps with the investigations themselves.

Modern analytics tools expand the types of data that law enforcement agencies can use in their investigations. For example, many criminals today communicate through encrypted mobile apps. This leaves agents in the dark about where criminals are and what they’re up to.

With modern analytics tools, however, investigators can leverage other types of data to track criminal networks down. For instance, these tools can connect the dots across a myriad of data points, leveraging IP addresses of devices to reveal valuable insights about locations, timetables, relationships, and more.

“We’re trying to help them think about their enforcement tools and capabilities differently,” Patrick says.

Furthermore, modern data analytics tools bring the pieces together across data types and sources, such as the vast and valuable troves of information on chemicals, risks, and trends housed by the DEA’s National Forensic Information Laboratory System.

“All of that stuff right now is done manually and requires an intel analyst to go in and figure out what it is, what is related, and how these things are tied together,” Patrick says.

Data analytics exponentially accelerate the process.

“Among other things, agencies can educate their state and local partners, develop public service announcements for the public, and restrict the use of certain chemicals,” Patrick says. 

For law enforcement agencies, anonymous tips are a vital source for leads. They’re also a big cause of information overload.  

“There are literally tens of thousands of these tips,” Patrick says. Hidden among the 99.9% that are “absolute noise and nonsense” are those that require urgent attention, like a tip leading to a potential school shooter.

This is where AI and ML tools come in, he says, enabling investigators to “really scrub through these tips and drill down to the handful that are viable and absolutely, unequivocally need to be immediately addressed by a law enforcement agent.” 

For over 25 years, Patrick was one of those agents. Before retiring from the DEA, he faced a big decision: What next?

“As I began that journey and was coming to terms with leaving government service and entering the private sector, I had conversations with several different employers. I had four or five job offers, and I turned down every single one of those job offers,” he says.

Then he talked to Booz Allen leaders like Carl Ghattas, who himself came from a law enforcement background at the FBI.

“I felt like Booz Allen is a values-driven organization, that people here genuinely care about doing right by the client and doing right by the public that we all ultimately serve.”

This positive impression has continued throughout his time at the firm.

“There are some amazing people that I work with each and every day that are so innovative, forward-leaning, and really are experts in their field, whether it be AI or data analytics,” he says. “I'm constantly impressed at the depth and breadth of their understanding and their experiences.”

“When we tell these law enforcement agencies and federal clients that we're going to do something, we do it, and we deliver in a way that is helpful to them and positive for the U.S. taxpayers,” he says. “I genuinely feel proud of the work that we do, and I'm proud of the people that we bring to the table.”