CRI3701 Crime Information Systems Flashcards

Flashcards generated from lecture notes on Crime Information Systems, covering key concepts, legislative requirements, and management of data and information for crime prevention.

What is the purpose of the module CRI3701?

To demonstrate the importance of crime information systems used in fighting crime, including managing data, analyzing information, and developing policing strategies.

What is data in the context of crime information systems?

Raw material for data processing, relating to facts, events, and transactions in various forms, such as numbers, text, or electronic bits.

What is information in the context of crime information systems?

Data that has been processed to be meaningful to the person who receives it; anything that is communicated, such as a report on a crime survey.

What are the five policing purposes that provide the legal basis for collecting police information?

Protecting life and property, preserving order, preventing the commission of crime, bringing offenders to justice, and any duty arising from common or statutory law.

What is the significance of Section 32(1) of the Constitution of South Africa?

It provides that everyone has the right of access to any information held by the state and any information held by another person required for the exercise or protection of any rights.

Why is it important to treat police information as a corporate resource?

Information collected for one policing purpose may have value for another purpose, and information from one precinct may be relevant to another.

What are some examples of critical information areas for policing?

Information about known or suspected offenders, information from sensitive or covert sources, and information about serious offenses.

What are the benefits of recording police information in accordance with national standards?

Ensuring compliance with the law, supporting decision-making through intelligence-driven policing, providing an auditable decision-making process, and enabling information sharing.

What does the evaluation of police information involve?

Determining its provenance, accuracy, and continuing relevance to a policing purpose, and deciding what action should be taken.

What are some potential actions that may result from actioning police information?

Initiating a response, generating further research and development, or making the decision not to do anything at that point in time (subject to review).

What is information sharing?

The processing of information either on a once-off or ongoing basis between partners for the purpose of achieving a common aim.

What are the key aspects of review, retention, and disposal of information?

Review involves examining records to ensure a continuing policing purpose, adequacy, and compliance with legal principles. Retention is continued storage, and disposal is the removal of information to the extent that it cannot be restored.

How is information interpreted in policing?

Through a crime analysis system, involving systematic analysis for identifying patterns and trends in crime and disorder.

What is the use of crime information management?

To capture crime information for a policing purpose, facilitated by an agency information system management strategy (ISMS).

What is surveillance in a policing context?

A process that involves collecting relevant data systematically, managing and analyzing the data, and communicating the results to enable beneficial changes.

How is crime information management achieved?

By sifting data and unrelated material, and protecting, safeguarding, and verifying information.

What is data sifting?

Amassing evidence and appraising, assessing, assorting, bolting, categorizing, clarifying, or classifying data from unrelated material.

What does protecting information involve?

Using techniques to control who may use or modify the computer or the information contained in it, and preventing unauthorized release, modification, or denial of use.

What are the three categories of potential security violations?

Unauthorized information release, unauthorized information modification, and unauthorized denial of use.

What is safeguarding information?

Creating and maintaining a program for effectively protecting sensitive information throughout its life cycle, including classification, storage, transportation, distribution, destruction, and incident management.

What are the basic classifications of information according to the MISS?

Public, personal, internal, and confidential.

What does verifying information involve?

Ensuring that information is accurate and reliable before a case is investigated or an operation plan is executed.

What is information integrity?

The trustworthiness and dependability of information, including its accuracy, relevancy, consistency, and reliability.

What are the key principles that information integrity should comply with?

Accuracy, adequacy, relevancy, reliability, and recorded in good time.

What are the three domains of information integrity?

Content, process, and system.

What is information quality?

A measure of the value that information provides to the user, determining its suitability for a given task.

What is data quality?

The foundation of information quality, ensuring the integrity and reliability of data-based analysis and reporting.

What does accuracy in data and information quality refer to?

Data and information that conforms to the real world or conceptual items of interest to the user and is error-free.

What does adequacy in data and information quality refer to?

Having all the required parts or enough information for decision-making.

What does relevancy in data and information quality refer to?

The capacity of data and information to make a difference that identifies it as relevant to a decision.

What steps should law enforcement officers take to ensure information is reliable?

Corroborate as much of the informants’ information as possible, determine how the informant obtained the information, and evaluate the informant’s background.

What does 'recorded in good time' refer to in information integrity?

That a criminal case is attended to as a matter of urgency and recorded accurately, especially in cases where evidence can be lost.

What is police information?

Includes all data obtained and recorded for police purposes, including intelligence and personal data.

What is the purpose of obtaining police information?

To enable the police to develop crime prevention strategies and operational plans, protect life and property, and enforce the law.

How can crime information systems be used to prevent crime?

By identifying potential suspects, increasing investigators and crime prevention officers, and assisting in developing crime prevention strategies.

What systems does the SAPS use to prevent crime?

GIS, CAS, business intelligence, special notification questionnaire, docket analysis, surveys, and statistical analysis.

In police work, what do electronic records allow police officers to do?

Gather more information enabling them to quickly assess the person or place that is being investigated.

What is the IJS (Integrated Justice System)?

A system launched by the South African government in 2002, which aims to increase efficiency and effectiveness within the Justice System.

List some E-Justice Programs.

Court Process Project, Digital Nervous System (DNS) Project, Financial Administration System Project, E-Scheduler.

What is E-Scheduler?

The official monitoring case management tool, which is used to determine performance at court as well as at institutional level.

How can the police make visible the presence of Electronic Records?

The police need to make electronic records visible, and properly make all police officials aware of this presence.

What can crime maps show?

Areas that contain clusters. Which can identify high crime concentration areas that demand special attention.

Define a level of access within an information system.

A means by which access is granted to people based on whether they are authorized in accordance with law and regulation.

What are law enforcement executives responsible for within the organization?

For exercising due care in the performance of their duties, committing to staff training on security issues, managing the risk with agency's information systems.

What are 3 levels of access needed?

Security levels must be provided at three levels of access control: server, directory, and file.

During user account creation, how are passwords created?

Passwords should be created during user account creation following the secure options available in the creation utility.

What are the potential impacts of an organizations security?

Potential impact is the effect on a law enforcement agency’s information system should there be a loss or compromise of the security breach.

Prior to determining the security level of the information system, what do commanders need to do?

Commanders are expected to determine the security level of the information handled by the system.

How can an agency reduce or mitigate risk?

Enacting policies that effectively manage the risk. If a law enforcement agency does not have policies in place, it needs to start with both a self-assessment and a risk assessment.

Name several requirements that commanders must follow.

Commanders must: implementable, enforceable, responsible, and documented.

What is the analysis of crime information?

The systematic study of crime and disorder problems to assist the police in criminal apprehension, crime and disorder reduction, and crime prevention and evaluation.

What is the purpose of tactical crime analysis?

To provide immediate response and provide information to assist operational personel in specific crime trends.

What is the purpose of administrative crime analysis?

Its purpose is financial, organisational, political, and legislative.

What does intelligence analysis focus on?

Often focuses on organised crime such as drug smuggling, money laundering, gangs, terrorism, and car theft rings.

Name a software program that law enforcement uses to catch criminals.

GIS, GPS, Crime Mapping, CAS, crimestat.

What is the analyst required to strive towards?.

The analyst must strive to be the one to identify all the crime patterns.

What is the Modus Operandi?

The Modus Operandi is the method in which someone commits a crime; it is sometimes referred to as MO.