The White House is also calling on tech companies for help. Amazon's Web Services group (the cloud computing folks) will convene a consortium to bring together data scientists, researchers and other technologists to come up with solutions for DDJ cities and states. Participants currently include the likes of Palantir, which is widely known for its data analytics, Motorola and Code for America.

As part of the DDJ, communities will also equip their police and first responders with strategies to de-escalate crisis situations to push people towards social programs and services. They'll also use data to identify low-risk offenders in prison and figure out ways to get them released early. Similar strategies have been adopted by some US communities to resounding success, Wired reports. Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, for example, used data strategies to find low-risk offenders who could be released early. They were able to lower their prison population by 40 percent with jumps in reported crime.