By MICHAEL SCHERER, Staff Writer

Thursday, January 13, 2000 -- (EASTHAMPTON) - Officer Mark Popielarczyk stood in the Police Department's new lobby Wednesday, looking down out at maps strewn over gray desks.

"It is awesome," he said. "Look at this stuff."

The maps showed Easthampton's basic geography, its main streets and neighborhood lines. But the most important information was contained in brightly colored dots printed on the city. The dots were clustered in some areas, each representing a reported disturbance, drug arrest or an accident.

Police say those dots will change the way they do their work.

"Basically this is going to allow us to allocate our manpower better and be able to predict crime patterns," said Popielarczyk, a member of the department's Crime Analysis Unit.

For the past week, Popielarczyk, Officer Rick Rogalski and Officer Brian Ross have been learning to use a new computer program acquired recently by the city through a $90,000 federal grant.

The program, called Crime View, allows officers to map information from the police blotter onto a city map with the click of a mouse. Data can be shown over any number of time periods from a variety of sources: arrests, citation, accidents, or dispatch codes.

In the past, the department has used blotter information to design patrols and set up street maps, but Detective Sgt. Derrill Stoddard said police have not had a comprehensive, graphic view of their own activity. He said he has been amazed by the power of the new program.

"It has given us real good information," Stoddard said.

That information has not yet been made public, as officers say they are still working out the kinks of the program. At some point, police have said that generated maps may be posted on the Police Department's Web site.

In addition to citywide maps, the new program can zoom in on areas of interest to find local activity. One map even drew a circle 1,000 feet around the high school, so nearby arrests could be charted. Other maps break the city down into 12 areas, so that police can find out where the most calls originate.

"This will help us track and help us solve the problems," said Popielarczyk.