Crime Mapping Approach for Crime Pattern Identification: A Prototype for the Province of Cavite

Abstract

Crime incident is one of the serious problems in Cavite province. The local government together with law enforcement agencies strictly implements the visibility of police officers to address the increasing number of crime incidents. However, with the insufficient number of police officers to patrol the area, together with the increasing population, crime incidents provides a great impact on the security of people. Crime incident mapping is a new approach in addressing the problem. Crime maps have begun to emerge in different platforms and can now be used by law enforcement agencies to visualize and analyze crime incidents by extracting data recorded from the map using Google map API. Monitoring crime incidents using Google map has significant effects in increasing awareness of the general public in the area and in improving better data dissemination. This study used the iterative software development methodology in addressing the current problem. This method is appropriate for web development because it follows an iteration procedure, wherein the developer can apply changes in every module of the crime mapping website. Using this method, the objectives of the study were met, which is capable of providing different types of reports such as spatial report and crime pattern report that served as a guide for law enforcement agencies to easily track crime incidents. These reports can arrange crime patterns by providing specific crime records on yearly, quarterly and monthly basis. The results of different tests conducted on the website show the accuracy of the prototype in terms of providing relevant data to its users.