Crime Analysis and Mapping Jonathan Lewin

Impacting Crime Considerations in Developing a Crime Mapping Application

3 What Is Crime Analysis? The qualitative and quantitative study of crime and law enforcement information in combination with socio- demographic and spatial factors to apprehend criminals, prevent crime, reduce disorder, and evaluate organizational procedures. Introductory Guide to Crime Analysis and Mapping by Dr. Rachel Boba, Police Foundation, 2001.

4 What is GIS? Geographic Information System  A system of hardware and software used for storage, retrieval, mapping, and analysis of geographical data.  nwgis.com

5 Components of GIS Hardware (computers, network) Software  Commercial, off-the-shelf (ArcView, MapInfo)  Free (ArcExplorer)  Custom (in-house or out-sourced development) People  Users, programmers, support staff Training  For people: users, programmers, support staff

6 Why Implement GIS? Presents information in a format that’s easy to understand for:  Police officers, managers, members of the public Encourages problem-solving Builds credibility in the community-  helps convey the impression that we know what we’re doing and are aware of the problems in the community Supports crime analysis Supports resource allocation Supports management accountability Supports event command and control operations

7 Considerations What are the goals of your GIS?  Crime analysis  Evaluation of trends  Community policing problem-solving  Investigative support (gang, narcotics info)  Resource allocation  Management accountability  External (community) access  Conduct NEEDS ANALYSIS, focus groups with users!

8 Considerations The mapping layer contains geographic reference information for the illustration of data points  Street file will contain address information  Boundary files may contain beats, districts, service areas, political boundaries, census tracts, neighborhoods, gang territories, churches, schools, businesses, aerial photographs, building outlines, parks, etc.  These maps must be continuously updated to ensure accuracy

9 Key Decision Points in Developing GIS Will the GIS be a separate application, or integrated into your Records Management System (RMS)? Will development occur using in-house resources, or will you outsource?  Do you have adequate technical resources to develop and maintain the application in-house? Does an off-the-shelf product meet your needs?  CrimeView, CrimeStat (See what’s out there!)

10 Maps are just another way of visualizing information. There must be an underlying information base for the GIS to utilize.  Which systems will be the source of records for your GIS?  Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD)- 911  Records Management System (RMS) Access to Source Data Is Critical

11 Does Your CAD/RMS Support Mapping? Are the CAD and RMS integrated?  How will the GIS access source data from these two systems?  Can the data be queried?  Is it accurate? Do the source records have appropriate, consistent geographic information to allow for geocoding?  Addresses must be consistent, error- checked

12 Key Decision Points In Developing GIS Will the application be stand-alone (installed only on selected computers) or networked? How will licensing issues be addressed? If using an existing mapping program like ArcView or MapInfo, each instance of the application must be licensed Can you utilize an Intranet-based solution, where each workstation only needs a web browser? (ArcExplorer)

13 Will the GIS access real-time data, or will a “data warehouse” (separate copy of the data designed specifically to support queries) be utilized?  How “real-time” do you want your data to be?  How often will the data warehouse be updated?  In Chicago, we use a data warehouse that is updated at least once a day  The data warehouse is a subset of the full operational data, designed for fast queries Key Decision Points In Developing GIS

14 Training is required for personnel at all levels within the organization  Data Systems Support staff must be extensively trained to be able to support, maintain, and ideally expand the application- in Chicago, we worked directly with the vendor during all stages of development  Additional support staff must be trained to be able to maintain and update maps as needed  Users must be trained at different need levels: police officers (basic), detectives (advanced) Personnel Issues

15 Customized, out-sourced development can be labor-intensive and result in high costs An Off-the-shelf application will generally be less expensive Utilizing in-house personnel can result in large training requirements, and staff turnover can be an issue (once trained, they leave) Allow for delays, this is a complex process Cost Issues

16 Lessons Learned Set design goals first  Utilize focus groups  Make it easy enough for the average police officer to use– simple, graphical interface Own the source code  If out-sourcing custom development, make sure you own the code so you can make changes Direct interface to timely source data Market the features and benefits (Sell it!) Train the users and support staff

17 Resources Police Foundation Crime Mapping Laboratory  COPS  NIJ Mapping & Analysis for Public Safety  Vendors  

18 ICAM Examples

19 Questions?