Reference no: EM131665856
Write a One-Page Reaction Paper on the concept of why you believe it is important to utilize Crime Analysis in modern-day, "Post-9/11" police operations.
Include how Crime Mapping, in and of itself, may in fact assist law enforcement in the short, and long-term concepts of combating, controlling, and preventing crime.
class notes...please use only
Definition of Crime Analysis
Crime analysis is the systematic study of crime and disorder problems as well as other police-related issues-including sociodemographic, spatial, and temporal factors-to assist the police in criminal apprehension, crime and disorder reduction, crime prevention, and evaluation.
Many different definitions, common components are:
supporting the mission of the police agency
utilizing systematic methods and information
providing information to a range of audiences
Components of the Definition
The Study includes:
Focused and systematic examination
Not haphazard or anecdotal
Application of social science data collection procedures, analytical methods, and statistical techniques.
Qualitative and quantitative data and methods
Qualitative: examination of non-numerical data for the purpose of discovering underlying meanings and patterns of relationships (e.g., field research, observation)
Quantitative: conducting statistics on numerical or categorical data (e.g., frequencies, percentages, means, and rates)
Crime and disorder
Information related to the nature of the incidents, offenders, and victims or targets
Much more than just the examination of crime incidents
Socio-demographic information
Characteristics of individuals and groups such as sex, race, income, age, and education
Individual level: search for and identify crime suspects
Broader level: determine the characteristics of groups within areas
Spatial nature of crime and police related issues
Visual displays of crime locations and their relationship to other events
Analytical techniques to determine clusters of activity
Temporal nature of crime and police related issues
Long term trends over years
The seasonal nature of crime
Mid-length and short term patterns (e.g., days/times)
Goals of Crime Analysis
To support the operations of a police department
To assist in criminal apprehension
To prevent crime through methods other than apprehension
The final goal of crime analysis is also to assist with the evaluation of police efforts.
Success of crime prevention programs and initiatives
Whether police organization is running effectively
Definition of GIS
A GIS is a set of computer-based tools that allow a person to modify, visualize, query, and analyze geographic and tabular data.
A geographic information system (GIS) is the software tools that allow the crime analyst to map crime in many different ways, from a simple point map to a three-dimensional visualization of spatial or temporal data.
Definition of Crime Mapping
Crime mapping is the process of using a geographic information system to conduct spatial analysis of crime problems and police related issues.
Three main functions crime mapping:
To facilitate the visual and statistical analysis of the spatial nature of crime and other types of events.
To provide the ability to link unlike data sources together based on a common geographic variable (e.g., linking census information, school information, and crime data for a common area).
To create maps communicating analysis results.
History of Crime Analysis
Beginnings of Crime Analysis
London in the early 19th Century
Metropolitan Police Act, passed in the 1820s, about 1,000 men were organized to form a London police force.
Evidence of crime statistics
United States 1900-1970
Early 20th Century: August Vollmer wrote about pin mapping, the regular review of police reports, and the formation of patrol districts based on crime volume
1950s and 1960s: analysis happening but no evidence of crime analysis products (O.W.Wilson's writings)
1970s: 1968 Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act
1970s: Beginnings of environmental criminology
Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA) in 1979.
1980s
The Colorado Crime Analysis Association, 1982
California 1989
Minority of departments
1990s
International Association of Crime Analysts (IACA)
Problem Oriented Policing (1990), Herman Goldstein
Community policing
Improvements in computer hardware and software.
1994 Violent Crime Control and Safe Streets Act
COMPSTAT
History of Crime Mapping
Beginnings of Crime Mapping
Cartographic School of Criminology examined levels of crime summarized by different areas (regions) and their relationship to sociological factors
United States: 1900-1970
New country, maps and census data not readily available
1920s and 1930s urban sociologists in Chicago mapped juvenile delinquency
1950s, 1960s, and 1970s sociologists and others looking at crime and its causes continued to examine sociological factors.
In the late 1960s, spatial analysis of crime began to be conducted using large computer systems and unsophisticated visualization methods
1970 to Present
During the late 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s, there was a movement by researchers in England, Canada, and the United States to shift the study of crime away from the focusing on the criminal offender towards focusing on the criminal event
Significant improvements in computer technology and police data systems occurred in the early to mid-1990s
Crime mapping was advocated by Vice President Al Gore in the mid 1990s
Government funding was allocated for police agencies to obtain crime mapping technology
Programs developed specifically to assist with crime mapping:
Crime Mapping Research Center, now called the Mapping and Analysis for Public Safety program (MAPS)
Crime Mapping and Analysis Program (CMAP)
Police Foundation's, Crime Mapping Laboratory
COMPSTAT
Crime Analysis vs. Crime Mapping
Crime mapping is that in the last decade crime analysis and crime mapping have evolved but along different paths.
This is evidenced by their histories (i.e., academic vs. police beginnings), the availability of funding, centers, and publications (i.e., primarily for crime mapping).