GIS TECHNIQUES AND CRIME ANALYSIS

- Nathan Kelly

WHAT IS GIS?

• A geographic information system (GIS) integrates software, and data for managing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information.

• Allows users to interpret, and visualize data in many ways that reveal relationships, patterns, and trends in the form of maps, globes, reports, and charts.

• Helps you answer questions and solve problems by looking at your data in a way that is quickly understood and easily shared.

• GIS technology can be integrated into any enterprise information system framework.

http://www.esri.com/what-is-gis/overview#overview_panel

WHAT IS CRIME ANALYSIS?• Crime analysis describes the

systematic collection, preparation, interpretation, and dissemination of information about criminal activity to support the mission of law enforcement

http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/summer08articles/intelligence-led.html

GIS ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES• Hot spot Analysis Tool -

delineates clusters of census blocks with higher or lower than expected crime incidents. These clusters reflect crime hot and cold spots and may provide clues about policy or environmental factors that discourage crime.

http://www.esri.com/news/arcuser/0405/ss_crimestats1of2.html

GIS ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES• Geographic Profiling

(journey-to-crime analysis) uses the locations of related crime incidents to determine the most likely areas of offender residence and to forecast the locations of future crimes.

http://www.inlander.com/spokane/article-19404-calculating-crimes.html

GIS ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES• Space and time are paramount to both tactical

and strategic crime analysis. The cumulative summation (CUSUM) algorithm is applied to detect deviations in event activity, such as a spike in crime that is considerably higher than past incident rates

SOURCES• http://www.esri.com/• Roth, R. E., Ross, K. S., Finch, B. G., Lou, W., &

MacEachren, A. M. (2013). Spatiotemporal crime analysis in U.S. law enforcement agencies: Current practices and unmet needs. Government Information Quarterly, 30(3), 226–240.

• Salleh, S. A., Mansar, N. S., Yusoff, Z., & Nasir, R. A. (2012). The Crime Ecology: Ambient Temperature vs. Spatial Setting of Crime (Burglary). Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 42, 212–222.