When District Attorney Mike Green wanted to know whether a policy restricting felony plea bargains was working, he turned to the numbers.

Rochester Institute of Technology criminal-justice professor John Klofas compared arrests, trials, and convictions in 2003 - before Green implemented the policy - with data from the following two years. What he found was that felony arrests had dropped between 2003 and 2005. But trials for violent offenses and drug and gun crimes had increased. The study's conclusion: the new policies were likely to result in more felony trials and more sentences of jail time.

That's an example of how data can be used to shape law-enforcement practices. And it's an approach that's going to be used more often in Monroe County.

The state has awarded $2 million to four local public-safety agencies and a related anti-crime program - a 44 percent increase over last year. The five - the Rochester Police Department, the DA's office, the sheriff's department, the county probation department, and Pathways to Peace - have been part of the Operation IMPACT initiative to reduce violent crime in the city.

Need obviously played a role as well. Rochester's murder rate has been near the top in the nation.

But another reason for the big increase in funding is that Operation IMPACT is a regional, interagency program. "We know that criminals don't abide by geographic boundaries," says Janine Kava, a spokeswoman for the state Division of Criminal Justice Services.

Much of the grant will be used for salaries for prosecutors and police. But some of it will help fund analysts at three of the partnering agencies: the DA's office, the Monroe County Probation Department, and the Rochester Police Department.

The analysts will work together to identify and track regional crime patterns. That will lay the groundwork for what local officials hope will become a regional crime-intelligence center in Monroe County, says Green. In the long term, the collaboration could involve all police departments in the county, along with other Operation IMPACT partners such as parole officers and the State Police, he says. The Rochester Institute of Technology, already a partner in the program, would provide some staffing and help train the analysts.

RIT's Klofas is plenty familiar with the value of crime data. He has worked with the DA's office and Rochester police to evaluate crime data and crime-fighting strategies. Currently, he is on loan to the City of Rochester part time, helping city police officers evaluate gun crimes.

"Each year the city takes about 1,000 guns into possession," Klofas says. Some are legal guns, taken from houses during domestic-violence incidents or are turned over by people who no longer want them or may have inherited them from a deceased relative. But about 300 guns out of the thousand have been possessed illegally or used in a crime, says Klofas.

By analyzing reports, police can determine arrest hotspots and peak crime times. And that information can be used to develop training or deterrence programs, says Klofas.

The new full-time analysts will allow the agencies to do some other things they haven't been able to: study data from throughout the county and study non-violent crimes.

Tracking property crimes is perhaps one of the best uses of an analytical approach, Klofas says. Those crimes tend to occur in clusters, and offenders are often involved in multiple crimes. If the pattern is recognized early, police can step up enforcement and prevention efforts.

By sifting through the data, analysts can also identify high-risk victims, offenders, and locations, he says. They can identify victims of repeated domestic violence. A current Rochester Police Department program that tracks the city's most violent offenders helps officers keep tabs on their activities and whereabouts. And analyzing crime locations can pinpoint intersections or parts of neighborhoods that have a high crime risk.

A recent high-profile crime report - the alleged gay beating on South Goodman Street in June - has led to calls for a similar analysis. In a recent interview with City, Kris Hinesley, executive director of the Gay Alliance, said she'd like to see the Rochester Police Department track bias crimes against the LGBT community.

The analysts will do more than study the crimes themselves. They'll examine prosecution and enforcement strategies, and the effects of programs that provide alternatives to incarceration.

And analyzing those programs means that public safety officials will have a better idea which are working, which populations they're working for, and how to best make use of money and manpower, Klofas says. It will also help gauge the effectiveness of new initiatives, such as the mentoring program the DA's office is developing for non-violent drug dealers.