There’s a behind-the-scenes group
of state workers that recently swept a number of national awards.
“That’s actually quite remarkable,”
West Virginia SAC Director Dr. Steve Haas said. “It’s the first time that I’m
aware of that a statistical analysis center has been recognized to win all of
the awards in a single year.”
The West Virginia SAC has fewer
than a dozen workers but the information the group churns out is used
prominently in crime fighting and public safety.
“We fill that gap between what data
tells us and what science and what the field tells us is best practice and
what we’re actually doing in making data driven decisions for policies in the
state,” Haas said.
For example, the SAC will be
heavily used as part of the new state law aimed at reducing prison overcrowding
in West Virginia
One of the national awards the unit
won had to do with a crime reporting study that Haas believes will help West Virginia
“We compared our methods to the
FBI’s methods and we found our methods showed more promise for being more
accurate in helping us being able to stabilize our current crime trends,” Haas
said.
Other awards came in the area of
technical innovation and the SAC’s website. Dr. Haas was also chosen as the
national organization’s new president. He said none of the honors would be
possible without the state support and a quality staff.
“We’re thankful for the support
we’re given by the Division of Justice and Community Service but also the
staff,” Haas said that staff is made up by “good quality people who care about
the work they do.”
Haas said statistic analysis
centers in other states are based on university campuses or in larger cities
with larger staffs.
