Current Ways of Crime Analysis

Current Ways of Crime Analysis

Background

Crime analysis is the systematic organization, analysis, and presentation of spatial, temporal, and topological patterns of crime incidents. It is used to support problem solving and planning by law enforcement agencies in field operations, investigations, and management. Crime analysts collect, organize, and tabulate dispatch records, 911 calls, crime reports, arrest reports, activity logs, and other information collected by the police. Then they link these data sources to identify crime patterns, forecast future crime events, and evaluate efforts that address old crime trends, prepare statistical crime reports, and work with investigators to identify suspects (Block, 1995). Most law enforcement agencies that use crime analysis have implemented it with the Geographic Information System (GIS), a combination of computer hardware, software, and data that allows them to display crimes and related information on computer-generated maps. These computerized crime maps enable law enforcement personnel to analyze and link various data sources and produce a timely and detailed snapshot of crime incidents and their related factors within a community or geographic area.

Contemporary Crime Analysis

While law enforcement personnel have been conducting some form of crime analysis since the early 1900s, this process changed significantly with the development of computers and software, particularly with the development of personal computers (PCs). With the advent of the PC came PC-based mapping programs and the computerization of police functions, including police dispatches and arrest records. In addition, efforts by the federal government since the early 1970s helped institutionalize the inclusion of crime analysis units within police departments. The U.S. Department of Justice, through its Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, encouraged and financed the development of crime analysis units in several police departments. Much of the early development was guided by the work of Robert Heck, who developed the Patrol Emphasis Program in 1975. The program encouraged agencies to use crime analysis information, together with other strategies, to manage calls for service and increase the quality of the preliminary investigation process. Heck later developed the Integrated Criminal Apprehension Program (ICAP) (Mamalian, 1999). This program focused on a more structured approach to the management and integration of police services. The ICAP system allows crime analysts to monitor crime patterns and report on them to patrol and investigative personnel.

Tactical Analysis

The process of contemporary crime analysis is divided into three major areas: tactical analysis, strategic analysis, and administrative analysis (Gottlieb et al. 1994). Tactical analysis provides information to assist patrol and investigative officers with the identification of specific and immediate crime problems and the arrest of offenders. This type of analysis could also include identifying what type of person, structure, vehicle, or establishment is likely to become a target or a victim of crime; or, the crime analyst may help an investigator clear a case by searching department records and other databases for a prior arrestee who fits a specific description. Most recently, this type of analysis has helped law enforcement agents develop problem-oriented policing (Levine, 2000). Using GIS, crime analysts, police officers, and investigators work ...