Crime Mapping Research Articles

Big Data in the Field of Civil Security Research

This article gives insight in a running dissertation at the University in Potsdam. Point of discussion is the spatial and temporal distribution of emergencies of German fire brigades that have not sufficiently been scientifically examined. The challenge is seen in Big Data: enormous amounts of data that exist now (or can be collected in the future) and whose variables are linked to one another. These analyses and visualizations can form a basis for strategic, operational and tactical planning, as well as prevention measures. The user-centered (geo-) visualization of fire brigade data accessible to the general public is a scientific contribution to the research topic 'geovisual analytics and geographical profiling'. It may supplement antiquated methods such as the so-called pinmaps as well as the areas of engagement that are freehand constructions in GIS. Considering police work, there are already numerous scientific projects, publications, and software solutions designed to meet the specific requirements of Crime Analysis and Crime Mapping. By adapting and extending these methods and techniques, civil security research can be tailored to the needs of fire departments. In this paper, a selection of appropriate visualization methods will be presented and discussed.

GIS Based Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Crimes, a Case Study of Mardan City, Pakistan

This paper is aimed to study the crime with special reference to its spatial and temporal distribution. It also tries to analyze and estimates the impact of weather on the prevalence of criminal activity in Mardan City. Studying the crimes with reference to its spatial and temporal distribution is important because information about the occurrence of crime is one of the most crucial tools in combating crime. It allows understanding how crimes are distributed through space, and hence can help in combating them. The Geographical Information System is an important tool for dealing with spatial and temporal analysis and thus fighting crime. The advent of desktop computers has significantly increased the role of computer mapping. The availability of user-friendly GIS applications has further increased the use of GIS in crime mapping. For the present study the data was collected about homicide and aggressive assaults from all the three police stations covering Mardan City. The collected data was analyzed under different scenarios. The temporal based analysis of data reveals that almost 50% crimes reported in 2009, took place from May-September (summer) compared to 32% in winter (October to February). The spatial analysis of data reveals 05 hotspots. Sikindary area was identified as the most crucial hotspot where within a 05 km radius, 11 crimes were committed in 2009 followed by Kalpani Bridge area from where a total of 10 crimes of aggressive nature were reported. Similarly police station wise the City Police Station accounts for 47% of the aggressive crimes committed in 2009.

Crime Mapping and Analysis in the Core Area of Akure, Nigeria

Urbanization and increase rate of poverty coupled with the challenges of insecurity in most developing countries have led to increase of crime incidence. This phenomenon is not new to residents of Nigeria cities; it has created unrest and great burden. Consequently, this calls for the development of new approaches to tackle crime incidence in cities. This study therefore focuses on the application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as a tool for mapping out the area liable to crime in the core area of Akure, Nigeria. The study employs the use of secondary data. Secondary data include: literatures, journals and crime incidence reports gotten from internet, archives and Nigeria Police Force (NPF) respectively. Both spatial and statistical analyses were carried out using the appropriate tools such as Neighbourhood and Correlation Analysis, respectively. This study revealed that the transport route cutting through Akure metropolis is prone to crime activity. Finally, the study recommends that police officials should be trained on how to use GIS to fight crime.

Crime mapping in Castanhal city using integration tools and spatial data analysis

De acordo com o mapa da violencia do ano de 2015, no periodo de 2010 a 2012, ocorreram 271 homicidios por arma de fogo no municipio de Castanhal, ocupando o 70o lugar no indice das cidades com maior indice de mortes por arma de fogo no Brasil. Este estudo objetivou realizar o mapeamento da criminalidade no municipio de Castanhal no ano de 2014, utilizando ferramentas de integracao e analise de dados espaciais. Para atingir este objetivo foi feita a geocodificacao dos crimes de roubos e furtos do municipio, utilizando-se como ferramenta o Sistema de Informacao Geografica QGis 2.8, versao “Wien”. Os resultados do estudo constataram que o bairro Centro possui distribuicao muito alta de crimes de roubos e furtos (94 pontos), bem como os bairros Nova Olinda (36 pontos), Nova Estrela (25 pontos) e Caicara (46). Seis bairros foram caracterizados com baixa distribuicao de crimes e cinco com media distribuicao. Observou-se que existem 370 pontos de criminalidade dentro do raio de atuacao das viaturas. Outra informacao relevante e que esses crimes ocorrem nos horarios compreendidos entre 20h e 22h. Seguranca publica. Normal 0 false false false PT-BR X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:Tabela normal; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Calibri,sans-serif; mso-ansi-language:PT-BR; mso-fareast-language:PT-BR;} A B S T R A C T In the year 2015, according to the map of violence in the period 2010 to 2012, there were 271 homicides by firearms in Castanhal city, occupying the 70th place in the index of the cities with the highest rate of deaths by firearms in Brazil. This study aimed to carry out the mapping of crime in Castanhal city in 2014, using integration tools and spatial data analysis. To achieve this goal was made geocoding of robbery and theft of the municipality, using as tool the Geographic Information System QGIS 2.8, ;Wien; version. The results of the study found that the Centro neighborhood has very high distribution theft crimes and thefts (94 points), as well as the neighborhoods Nova Olinda (36 points), New Star (25 points) and Caicara (46). Six districts were characterized with low distribution of crimes and five average distribution. It was observed that 370 points are crime inside the car action radius. Another important information is that these crimes occur in times of between 20h and 22h. Keywords: Urban crime. Geoprocessing. Robberies and Thefts. Public security.

Cartography of crime: Portrait of metropolitan Vilnius

ABSTRACTIn Europe, especially in Eastern Europe, geographic research in criminology deals mainly with data analysis and accompanying cartographic communication through the visualisation of crime maps is less developed. Therefore, there is still a dearth of crime maps that could potentially not only show the facts, but also portray the criminal landscape of the city and tell the reader a story in a way that stimulates thinking, and motivates deeper analysis and spatial reasoning. This set of maps, which were designed by the authors, represent specific characteristics, density and temporal distribution of crimes in the city of Vilnius in 2014. It also shows changes in the crime rate from 2012 to 2014. The maps represent generalised data that was derived from detailed tabular data on reported criminal activities in 2012, 2013, and 2014. The primary map reveals some primary factors that allow understanding of spatio-temporal patterns of crimes in modern Vilnius: prevalent crime types with specific territorial and temporal distribution (crimes of violence, property crimes, and distribution/possession of drugs); changes in distribution over the examined period of 3 recent years; overall crime rate and detailed structure of 9 types of crimes, the rate of burglaries and seasonality of violent crimes for all the 21 administrative districts of the city. Original cartographic signs have been designed for the depiction of 11 characteristics. The maps are supplemented by 3D visualisations and a chart that shows changes in the overall crime rate and juvenile crime numbers in the decade from 2004 to 2014. The reference scale is 1:100,000 for the Main map and 1:300,000 for complementary maps.

ASSESSING SPATIAL DATA QUALITY OF PARTICIPATORY GIS STUDIES: A CASE STUDY IN CAPE TOWN

Abstract. Participatory GIS (PGIS) has been prescribed by scholars who sought to find a means to enable more equitable access to GIS data, diversifying the types of knowledge captured by a GIS and re-engineering GIS software. The popularity of PGIS is evident in the various studies and contexts in which it has been utilised. These include studies in risk assessment, land administration, resource management, crime mapping and urban design to mention but a few. Despite the popularity of PGIS as a body of research, little has been done in the analysis of the quality of PGIS information. The study investigated the use of data quality criteria commonly used in traditional GIS systems and shows that it is possible to apply the criteria used in traditional GIS to PGIS. It provides a starting point for PGIS studies to assess the quality of the product. Notably, this a reflective exercise on one case study, but the methodologies used in this study have been replicated in many others undertaken by Community Based Organisations as well as Non-Governmental Organisations. Therefore the findings are relevant to such projects.

English

The aim of this paper was to identify the determinants that influence vehicle theft by applying a negative binomial regression model.The identification of these determinants is very important to policy-makers, car-makers and car owners, as they can be used to establish practical steps for preventing or at least limiting vehicle thefts. In addition, this paper also proposed a crime mapping application that allows us to identify the most risky areas for vehicle theft. The results from this study can be utilized by local authorities as well as management of internal resource planning of insurance companies in planning effective strategies to reduce vehicle theft.Indirectly, this paper has built ingenuity by combining information obtained from the database of Jabatan Perangkaan Malaysia and insurance companies to pioneer the development of location map of vehicle theft in Malaysia.

Off Course? A Career in Archaeology Outside of the Academy

Off Course? A Career in Archaeology Outside of the Academy

Introduction: Crime Mapping and Crime Prevention

Crime maps have only recently begun to emerge as a significant tool in crime and justice. Until a decade ago, few criminal justice agencies had any capability for creating crime maps, and few investigators had the resources or patience to examine the spatial distribution of crime. Today, however, crime mapping is experiencing what might be termed an explosion of interest among both scholars and practitioners. This introduction begins by examining some early examples of mapping of crime, focusing in particular on factors that inhibited the widespread integration of mapping into crime prevention research and practice in the past. It then turns to innovations in mapping technologies and crime prevention theory that have recently brought crime mapping to the center of trends in crime prevention. The final section introduces the contributions that follow and discusses how they illustrate the many uses of mapping in crime prevention. It examines the pitfalls and problems that researchers and practitioners are likely to encounter in developing and analyzing maps, and the potential advances in crime mapping we might expect in coming decades.

Developing a Crime Mapping GIS System For Law Enforcement: A Case Study of Owerri Metropolis, Nigeria

This paper examines the use of GIS in the development of a crime analysis information system for the Nigeria police. In recent times, criminality has been on the increase with criminals using new and more sophisticated ways to commit crime; resulting to fear and restlessness among the citizens. They police have found it difficult to manage and control these crimes largely due to the obsolete methods and resources they employ in doing so. The purpose of this study is to see how the Nigerian Police Force can adopt the use of crime maps in its operations and reap the benefits. The system will help the police in the analysis of crimes which will lead to crime hotspots identification. Using ArcGIS Software 10.0, we created a digital land use map of crime hotspots in the area and a crime-geospatial database. The results of the spatial analysis and a 500m buffering done on the data shows that areas that are more vulnerable to crime, have no police stations situated around them. This study shows that a GIS based Information system will give the police better insights into crime mapping and analysis which will be a tool to help them effectively manage and combat crime. This study recommends full government involvement in the area of human personnel and infrastructure development for the police to effectively change from the traditional to GIS based ways of combating crime.

Crime Mapping of Rajasthan (2013): A District-level Analysis

Crime in the present day India has been on a swift increase for the last decade. The traditional crime recording methods are not so useful these days. The application of GIS and graphical tool as well as some important statistics in crime mapping is the need of the hour, which is applied for the state of Rajastahn for a district level analysis of crime scenario. The study is primarily based on the Crime in Rajasthan report, 2013, published by State Crime Records Bureau, Rajasthan. The study presesnts, vulnerability of all districts of Rajsathan in terms of incidences of crime and public safety measures. Purpose is to come out with crime mapping of Rjasthan in terms of vulnerability to crimes and availability of police services, which can be useful in policy framing for reducing crime rate and increasing the efficient delivery of police services in accordance. The study also suggests a strategic shift in policing to reduce crime levels in the society. The purpose is also, to convey to citizens and tourists which districts are the safest and in which districts they have to be alert and attentive to avert any danger, for instance the eastern districts, Capital and surrounding districts are far more dangerous than the western and southern districts of the state.

Some possibilities of spatial analysis of crimes in police work

Crime does not occur randomly. It tends to concentrate at particular places for reasons that can be explained in relation to victim and offender interaction and the opportunities that exist to commit crime. If the police knew where crime is concentrated (where are the hotspots) resources could be directed in order to take proactive actions. In order to identify hotspots, spatial distributions of crimes should be examined. Patterns in data must be identified, and underlying (spatial) processes must be understood in order to be effective in crime prevention. This could be achieved using spatial analysis techniques. In cases where spatial distribution is not complex and visually overwhelming the simple 'eyeball method' should be sufficient. But in cases where spatial distribution of a large number of crimes (events) is present, the spatial statistics is needed. Spatial statistics help cut through some of the subjectivity to get more directly at spatial patterns, trends, processes, and relationships. Today, the most commercial GIS solutions already have more or less developed statistical capabilities. In cases where built-in GIS statistical capabilities are not sufficient to satisfy particular research need, they must be supplemented by specialized statistical software. An example of the usage of spatial statistics is shown on the practical example using commercial robberies dataset in one of Belgrade's municipalities. The crime distribution is assessed using centro graphic measures (mean center, center of minimum distance, standard deviation ellipse). Centro graphic measures allows us to visualize a complex spatial trend, how quickly the mean center moves, and where it moves, is there changes in dispersion and/or orientation of the crime distribution etc., providing valuable information about the spatial processes promoting this crime shifts. The level of clustering was assessed calculating nearest neighbor index and finally clusters (i.e. hotspots) were identified using kernel density tool. Kernel density maps provide a realistic and accurate image of the location and shape of the hot spot distribution. In order to achieve complete understanding of the dynamics of crime activity at the hot spots, the analysis of spatial distribution isn't enough. Spatial analysis should be accompanied with analysis of time distribution of crimes at hot spots. This paper concludes that spatial analysis and spatial statistics techniques must be used in everyday crime mapping efforts aimed to provide analytical support to police decision making from tactical to strategic level.

Spatial Information Divergence: Using Global and Local Indices to Compare Geographical Masks Applied to Crime Data

AbstractAdvances in Geographic Information Science (GISc) and the increasing availability of location data have facilitated the dissemination of crime data and the abundance of crime mapping websites. However, data holders acknowledge that when releasing sensitive crime data there is a risk of compromising the victims' privacy. Hence, protection methodologies are primarily applied to the data to ensure that individual privacy is not violated. This article addresses one group of location protection methodologies, namely geographical masks that are applicable for crime data representations. The purpose is to identify which mask is the most appropriate for crime incident visualizations. A global divergence index (GDi) and a local divergence index (LDi) are developed to compare the effects that these masks have on the original crime point pattern. The indices calculate how dissimilar the spatial information of the masked data is from the spatial information of the original data in regards to the information obtained via spatial crime analysis. The results of the analysis show that the variable radius mask and the donut geomask should be primarily used for crime representations as they produce less spatial information divergence of the original crime point pattern than the alternative local random rotation mask and circular mask.

Official crime data versus collaborative crime mapping at a Brazilian city

Abstract. In July of 2013 a group of undergraduate students from the Federal University of Bahia, Brazil, published a collaborative web map called “Where I Was Robbed”. Their initial efforts in publicizing their web map were restricted to announce it at a local radio as a tool of social interest. In two months the map had almost 10.000 reports, 155 reports per day and people from more the 350 cities had already reported a crime. The present study consists in an investigation about this collaborative web map spatial correlation to official robbery data registered at the Secretary of Public Safety database, for the city of Salvador, Bahia. Kernel density estimator combined with map algebra was used to the investigation. Spatial correlations with official robbery data for the city of Salvador were not found initially, but after standardizing collaborative data and mining official registers, both data pointed at very similar areas as the main hot spots for pedestrian robbery. Both areas are located at two of the most economical active areas of the city, although web map crimes reports were more concentrated in an area with higher income population. This results and discussions indicates that this collaborative application is been used mainly by mid class and upper class parcel of the city population, but can still provide significant information on public safety priority areas. Therefore, extended divulgation, on local papers, radio and TV, of the collaborative crime map application and partnership with official agencies are strongly recommended.

GIS supporting intelligence-led policing

Tightening budgets and increased demand for public accountability has placed additional stress on already limited police department resources. Web-based crime mapping provides significant improvement over previous methods of information dissemination, allowing police departments to continue to work quickly and efficiently within these limitations. This modern technology has enabled a more proactive approach to policing, including intelligence led-policing and public facing crime maps. As such, officers are now able to better consider spatial patterns related to historic crime, and determine more informedly where crimes may occur in the future, and allocate their limited resources accordingly.

Predictive crime mapping

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have emerged as a key tool in intelligence-led policing and spatial predictions of crime are being used by many police services to reduce crime. Break and entries (BNEs) are one of the most patterned and predictable crime types, and may be particularly amendable to predictive crime mapping. A pilot project was conducted to spatially predict BNEs and property crime in Vancouver, Canada. Using detailed data collected by the Vancouver Police Department on where and when observed crimes occur, the statistical model was able to predict future BNEs for residential and commercial locations. Ideally implemented within a mobile GIS, the automated model provides continually updated predictive maps and may assist patrol units in self-deployment decisions. Future research is required to overcome computational and statistical limitations, and to preform model validation.

Analyzing and Displaying of Crime Hotspots using Fuzzy Mapping Method

detection is one of the essential challenges in crime mapping and analysis. Data mining can be used to explore crime detection problems. A cluster technique is an effective method for determining areas with high concentrations of localized events. Conversely, it remains a particularly demanding task to detect hotspots with mapping methods in view of the vulnerability connected with the suitable number of groups to create and additionally securing significance of individual clusters identified. Fuzzy clustering means algorithm was used for identifying hotspots of Chicago police department's citizen law enforcement analysis and reporting system data. In fuzzy clustering, a membership value to each data is assigned, which indicate the strength of relationship between that data points and a specific cluster. In this study each cluster represented the group of global positioning system data points having latitude and longitude as their co- ordinates. The findings from this study were expected to aware the public about crime hotspots. Law enforcement agencies can take prior steps to prevent crime with the use of detected crime hotspots.

Predictive Mapping of Anti-Social Behaviour

Predictive mapping of crime and anti-social behaviour is becoming more and more popular as a tool to support police and policy makers. Important ingredients of such models are often demographic and economic characteristics of the area. Since those are hard to influence, we propose to use the environment instead. In this paper, we present a model based on environmental criminology theories that is purely based on the buildings and objects in the neighborhood, such as bars, restaurants and parks. We show the strength and predictive power of this approach on the area of The Hague and Delft and present how the results can be interpreted by policy makers.

Haritalar Üzerinde Suç Verilerinin Görüntülenmesi ve Analizinin Sağlanması: Kocaeli İli Örneği

Nowadays, crime maps have been commonly used by different disciplines. The basic goal of using of crime mapping is to discover crime scenes and analyze them. Besides, it can be used for informing officers for local crime patterns, resource allocation decisions, evaluation analysis and crime forecast, and geographic profiling about ongoing crime series. In this study, we indicate police-judicial category crime data published in “Bizim Kocaeli” newspaper between 2011 and 2012 years on maps and develop a web-based application enabling user analysis related to these data. The user can realize spatial (e.g. finding an address), proximity (e.g. listing crimes in circle with a diameter of 300 meters in manner Kocaeli University-centralized), and network analysis (finding the route the nearest police station to a crime). Moreover, the user can extract association rules related to crimes via Appriori algorithm. This study contributes the peace and security of society

Identifying Potential Zones of Crime Commitment against Tourists in a Park: Conceptual and Logical Spatial Data Modeling

Location is considered as an important element in studying tourism security. Therefore, mapping crime hotspots has recently been an interesting research topic in tourism development. In order to identify crime patterns and hotspots, it is essential to create a database containing the required spatial data. It should also be integrated with additional qualitative/quantitative attributes affecting criminal actions. Designing a geographic information system (GIS) can be considered as the most efficient way to deal with this problem considering the complex nature of tourism security. This paper presents the theoretical scheme of spatial data modeling with the purpose of indentifying potential crime zones within a developed park. From the spatial point of view, the factors and the constraints, which make a location vulnerable, are defined. The entities are identified by their attributes and characterized by their relationships. Finally, the conceptual and the logical models to create the crime suitability maps are generated. The models provided in this paper are designed in an explicit way; therefore, they can be easily modified or generalized for any specific case study. The presented data modeling procedure can be applied to generate essential databases for crime mapping via any GIS software.