MODULE 15

Introduction to Crime Mapping,

Theoretical explanations of
crime and place Terminologies
being used in Crime Mapping
Lesson Objectives: At the end of this module, you should be able
to:
1. Assess the Theoretical explanations of crime and place
2. Analyze the Terminologies being used in Crime Mapping
WHAT IS CRIME MAPPING?
Crime mapping
• is a term used in policing to refer to the process of conducting
spatial analysis within crime analysis.
• process of using a geographic information system to conduct
spatial analysis of crime problems and other police-related issues.
• Mapping criminal incidents and other types of police data
through Geographic Information Systems (GIS) programs has
proven to be an effective tool in analyzing and preventing crime
and allocating law enforcement resources more efficiently
CRIME MAPPING SERVES THREE MAIN
FUNCTIONS WITHIN CRIME ANALYSIS
1. It facilitates visual and statistical analyses of the spatial
nature of crime and other types of events.
2. It allows analysts to link unlike data sources together based
on common geographic variables (e.g., linking census
information, school information, and crime data for a common
area).
3. It provides maps that help to communicate analysis results.
WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF
CRIME MAPPING?
• Crime mapping is very important tool in managing and
controlling crime in an area.
• Investigators are able to understand:
➢ the crime patterns and trend.
➢ It also help resource allocation and in geographic
profiling of criminals and suspicious locations.
HISTORY OF CRIME MAPPING
• 1829 In France -Adriano Balbi and Andre-Michel Guerry
created the first maps of crime.
• Lambert-Adolphe Quetelet (1831 and 1832)-Belgian
astronomer and statistician, he independently published
three maps dealing with the same themes but spreading
across larger areas.
➢ He stated, "The greater the number of individuals observed,
the more do individual peculiarities, whether physical or
moral, become.
• Robert Park (1920s and 1930s)-looked to
characteristics of the urban environment to explain
the crime problem in American cities.

• Frederic Thrasher (1927)-He found that gangs were

concentrated in areas of the city where social control
was weak and social disorganization pervasive.
TECHNOLOGIES USED IN CRIME MAPPING
Administrative crime analysis Administrative crime analysis
involves the presentation of key findings of crime research and
analysis to audiences within law enforcement, local government,
and citizenry based on legal, political, and practical concerns.

Cartography The science of mapmaking.

CompStat A police management system that uses computer
generated statistics to reduce crime.
CPTED The acronym for crime prevention through environmental
design. Refers to strategies to reduce crime that incorporate
making changes to the physical environment to limit the
opportunity for crime to occur.
Crime analysis the study and analysis of crime and crime-related
factors in efforts to inform and develop strategies to reduce crime
and the fear of crime.
Criminal intelligence analysis typically looks at organized criminal
activity and seeks to link people, events, and property.
Criminal investigative analysis With criminal investigative
analysis, the focus is on serial criminals. Victim characteristics
and elements of crime scenes are studied to discover patterns
that link related crimes together.
Criminology The study of crime and criminal behavior.
Geocoding In geocoding, street addresses and other
geographic reference points are positioned onto a map using
latitude and longitude coordinates for computer mapping and
analysis.
Geographic profiling In geographic profiling, a profile of the
offender, based on the nature of the crime and the facts of the
case, is developed.
Hypotheses Statements derived from theory that can be tested to
either support or disprove a theory or its assumptions.
Macro Macro-level theories of crime focus on societal-level
variables, including the structure of government and the economy
and how these variables impact crime rates within a society.
Macro-level theories could focus on city-, state-, country-, or
global-level influences.
Micro Micro-level theories of crime focus on individual
characteristics, including (but not limited to) IQ, mental state,
temperament, biological characteristics, and personal finances,
and how they influence a person's decision to commit a crime.
Police operational analysis
- Police operational analysis focuses on the operations of
police agencies, including staffing and resource deployment.
Projection
- The method used to transfer locations on the Earth's surface
to a flat map.
Scale
- The scale of a map indicates how miniature the
representation is; the larger the scale, the smaller the area
shown on a map.
Strategic crime analysis
- Strategic crime analysis involves the study of crime and other
law enforcement issues to identify long-standing patterns of
crime and other problems and to assess police responses to
these problems.
Tactical crime analysis
- Tactical crime analysis examines recent criminal events and
potential criminal activity by analyzing how, when, and where
the events occur to establish patterns and series, identify
leads or suspects, and to clear cases.
GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM (GIS)
- a powerful software tool
- allows the user to create any kind of geographic
representation, from a simple point map to a three-
dimensional visualization of spatial or temporal data.

THREE TYPES OF CRIME ANALYSIS

1. tactical crime analysis
2. strategic crime analysis
3. administrative crime analysis
TACTICAL CRIME ANALYSIS
- crime mapping is used to identify immediate patterns for
crimes.
- such as residential and commercial burglary, auto theft, and
theft from vehicles.
• For example, spatial analysis of auto theft incidents may
reveal clusters of activity at specific locations that might
indicate a crime pattern.
STRATEGIC CRIME ANALYSIS
Crime mapping is utilized in long-term applications to analyze
the relationship between criminal activity and indicators of
disorder, such as a high volume of vacant property or disorder
calls for service:
• To assist in geographic and temporal allocation of resources:
such as patrol officer scheduling and determination of patrol
areas.
• To examine patterns of crime at or around specific locations,
such as schools, bars, or drug treatment centers.
• To calculate crime rate information, such as
numbers of residential burglaries per household.

• To incorporate crime data with qualitative

geographic information, such as information on
teenage hangouts, student pathways to school, or
drug and prostitution markets.
ADMINISTRATIVE CRIME ANALYSIS
• A valuable tool used by police, researchers, and media
organizations
• To convey criminal activity information to the public.
• Web sites operated by police departments and news organization
routinely post maps that depict areas of crime, along with
corresponding tables and definitions.
For example:
• A police agency can reduce citizen requests for neighborhood
crime information by placing monthly or weekly crime maps on a
Web site that members of the public can access using computers
in their homes or at the local library.
GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES
POLYGON FEATURE
• Is a geographic area represented on a map by a
multisided figure with a closed set of lines.
• Polygons can represent areas as large as
continents or as small as buildings.
IMAGE FEATURES
• An image feature on a GIS-generated map is a vertical
photograph taken from a satellite or an airplane that is
digitized and placed within the appropriate coordinates.
• Such photos, which may appear in black and white or color,
show the details of streets, buildings, parking lots, and
environmental features (landscaping).
TYPES OF CRIME MAPPING
1. Single-Symbol Mapping
2. Buffers
3. Chart mapping
a) PIE CHART MAPPING
b) Bar Chart mapping
c) Interactive crime mapping
1.SINGLE-SYMBOL MAPPING
• In single-symbol maps, individual, uniform symbols
represent features such as the locations of stores, roads,
or states.
• single-symbol maps is that a GIS places all points on such a
map that share the same address directly on top of one
another
• making it impossible for the map to show how many
points there really are.
2. BUFFERS
• A buffer is a specified area around a feature on a
map.
• Buffers can be set at small distances, such as 50
feet, or larger distances, such as 500 miles,
depending on the purpose and scale of the map.
• Buffers help in crime analysis by illustrating the
relative distances between features on a map.
3. CHART MAPPING
- allows the crime analyst to display several values
within a particular variable at the same time .
(e.g., variable = crime, values = robbery, assault,
and rape).
There are two types of chart mapping:
1. Pie
2. Bar
• PIE CHART MAPPING
- the relative percentages (represented by slices of
a pie) of values within a variable are displayed.

• BAR CHART MAPPING

- the relative frequencies (represented by bars) of
values within variables are displayed.
INTERACTIVE CRIME MAPPING
• refers to simplified geographic information
systems made available to novice users over the
Internet.
• Many police departments have interactive Web
sites where citizens and police officers can
conduct basic crime mapping themselves.
IMPORTANT FORMULAS IN CRIME MAPPING