crime analysis

chapters 1-4

quantitative data

numerical or categorical

qualitative

non-numerical, observing characteristics of locations, talking to individuals, examining police narratives

GIS (geographical information system)

computer based tools that allow crime analyst to modify, visualize, and analyze, similar to spreadsheet or word program provides framework and templates for data collection

crime mapping

process of conducting spatial analysis of crime and disorder problems as well as other police related issues, provides maps to connect and communicate analysis results rimec

crime

rape, robbery, etc

disorder

disturbances, juvenile trouble, trespassing, suspicious activity, etc

crime analyst help support

criminal investigations, patrol activities, crime prevention and reduction, police and community relationships, chief executive, evaluation of police efforts

crime analyst I

new/inexperienced usually conducts relatively routine crime analysis task as well as criminal intelligence duties

crime analysis II

may work in a unit with other analyst or be the sole analyst in an agency, holds more responsibility and is expected to conduct more advanced crime and intelligence analysis, may supervisor less experienced analyst

crime analyst III

senior crime analyst position, may act as the units civilian supervisor, holds even more responsibility, conducts complex crime and intelligence analysis and research projects, represents the unit in high level department meetings

speciality crime analyst

an agency with a relatively large CAU may prefer to employ crime analyst who are specialist, agencies may receive grant funding that requires crime analyst to analyze particular types of crime or other activity

tactical crime analyst

conducts only tactical crime analysis and does not produce long term reports or statistics

problem analyst

conducts analysis to resolve long term, large level crime and disorder problems

specific crime (type) analysis

conducts tactical, strategic and administrative crime analysis

environmental criminology

focuses on understand how crime incidents happen in the various aspects of the environment or “settings” which are locations repeatedly used for a specific activity at common times, to understand patterns of crime that are predictable in order to devise ways of stopping large numbers of them at once

crime analysis triangle

a mechanism based on theory that is used to break down settings and understand how crime opportunities can occur and be prevented

guardians

people who have the ability to protect victims and targets by watching over them or removing them from particular settings. Neighbors, security guards

managers

responsible for setting rules and how they are enforced and environment of the place all affect crime opportunities

handlers

people who know potential offenders and are in position that allow them to monitor and/or control potential offenders actions. Parents and parole officers might discourage potential offenders actions

rational choice perspective

offenders make choices about committing crimes based on anticipated risk and rewards, if given a chance or the right opportunity any person will commit a crime

crime pattern theory

explains how people come together in space and time within settings, criminal events will most likely occur in areas where the activity space of potential offenders overlaps with the activity space or potential victims and targets

routine activity

focuses on how opportunities change based on behavior at the societial level

repeat victimization

recurrence of crime in the same places or against the same people

true repeat victims

exact same individuals or places that were previously victimized

near victims

individuals or places physically close to and share characteristics with the original victim

virtual repeats

individuals or places virtually identical to the original victim and share some of the same characteristics (retail stores having the same layout)

chronic victims

individuals or places repeatedly victimized over time by various offenders and various types of crimes

80/20 rule

80% of some kind of outcomes are the result of only 20% of the related causes

increase efforts

harden targets, control access to facilities

increase risk

cameras, place managers

reduce rewards

identify property, deny benefits

reduce provocations

reduce frustrations and stress, avoid disputes, reduce emotional arousal

remove excuses

set rules, post instructions, control drugs and alcohol

displacement

a crime phenomena change because they often are tasked to explain such changes on a regular basis and evaluate specific crime prevention responses

spatial displacement

the shifting of an activity in one area to another

temporal displacement

shifting of an activity from one time to another

target displacement

shifting of the choice of one victim/target

tactical displacement

shifting of tactics by offenders

standard model of policing

encompasses strategies the average person thinks police are supposed to do

place based approach

seek to prevent and deter crime in small geographical areas or at individual locations that manifest either over a short or long period of time

hot spot policing

traditional police strategies, increased police presence and arrest are implemented in areas that have disproportionaly more crime than other areas within a jurisdiction

person focused approach

uses problem solving analysis triangle to understand opportunities that give rise to long term problems and develop specific tailored responses

problem oriented policing

the idea that police take a proactive role in identifying, understanding and responding to problems

community based approach

when police engage the community to identify and address crime issues

disorder policing (broken windows)

residents, business owners and workers in neighborhoods with high levels of social incivilities like drug dealing, prostitution, public drinking, and physical decay become afraid and either move out to protect themselves or by avoiding others and isolating. Individuals are not connected to the community and offenders who commit both low level and high level crimes begin to move in and operate with little resistance

compstat

an accountability management model that seeks to hold police commanders responsible for carrying out crime reduction responses effectively

intelligence led policing

intelligence or analysis function is central in police agency crime reduction and prevention efforts

stratified policing

an organization model that instiutiononalizes proactive crime reduction, crime crime mechanisms into everyday police operations

predictive policing

the collection and analysis of data about previous crimes for identification and statistical prediction of individuals or geospatial areas with an increased probability of criminal activity to help developing policing intervention and prevention strategies and tactics

immediate problems

isolated incidents that occur and are resolved within minutes, hours, or days

short term problems

clusters of incidents and serious incidents, those that occur over several days or weeks and typically require short term versus immediate crime reduction responses

long term problems

a set of related activity that occurs over several months, seasons, or years that stems from systematic opportunies created by everyday behavior and environment

problem offenders

individual people who commit a disproportionate amount of crime or groups of offenders who share similar characteristics

problem location

concentrations of crime or problematic activity “risky place”

problem areas

relatively small geographical areas with a disproportionate amount of crime or disorder activity of one or several types

problem victims

can be individual people or groups of victims who share characteristics

problem property

class of products that share characteristics that make them attractive and vulnerable

compound problem

encompasses various locations, offenders, and victims and can exist throughout an entire jurisdiction

repeat incidents

occur when there are clusters of calls for service that represent problematic situations occurring at one location

crime patterns

groups of crimes that share key commonalities making them notable and distinct from other crimes occurring at the same time

policing

community, data/software/techniques, crime analysis results, police, select evidence based response, implement response, crime reduction

Sara problem solving process

an evidence based crime reduction approach in which crime analysis is essential

Sara, scanning step

identifying crime, disorder, and quality of life problems

Sara, analysis step

examine the problem activity in a broad sense by understanding its opportunities, breakdown the opportunities, determine how the problem is currently being addressed, analyze relevant local data

Sara, assessment step

when the analyst examines whether the response was successful

problem specific guides

summarize knowledge about the nature of and responses to specific crime and disorder problems

response guides

knowledge about crime prevention responses that are used across a wide range of problems

problem solving tool guides

summarize knowledge about how various analytical techniques are applied to understand crime and disorder problems

the crime analysis process

a method that applies to all the work crime analyst do, the way in which crime analysis is generally conducted and improved over time

administrative crime analysis

needs of agency, government and community, wide range of data mostly quantitative. Resource deployment for special events, community focused analysis and cost benefit analysis

strategic crime analysis

inform long term strategies and evaluation, policies and prevention techniques. Variety of police data and non police data quantitative and qualitative

tactical crime analysis

police data directed towards short term development of patrol and investigates priorities and deployment of resources

crime intelligence analysis

evaluation of information to determine its creditability and significance, people involved in crimes, particularly repeat offenders, repeat victims, criminal organizations and networks

repeat offender and victim analysis

using data to identify and priortize individual offenders by the number, type, and/or seriousness of their victimizations

criminal history analysis

results in an analytical product that is more than just a persons name and their criminal history

link analysis

visual representation of individuals, their “links” with one another as criminal associates, spouses, friends, and “enemies” as well as relevant addresses and other information relevant to a particular person or network

association matrix

includes information about things such as key entities, people, organizations, companies, phone numbers, license plates, etc. Represented by standard association symbols

link chart

corresponds with the association matrix, an illusion of the relationship to make the associations in the matrix easier to interpret

organizational charts

depict a specific organization, the people within it, and their hierarchical relationships

commodity flow analysis

the focus is on the “flow” of money and other financial information

communication analysis

focus is on the relationships and “flow” of communication through different types of media, person interaction, phone calls, email, etc

social media analysis

helps identify information on suspects, where they are staying, if they are home, etc

activity reports

include alert and warnings about potential crime and significant problematic events

assessment reports

typically about a particular event or location and can describe immediate or long term activity

analytic reports

provide case specific, situational specifics, group, case and content summaries related to both crime and intelligence data

repeat incident analysis

using calls for service data to identify locations in which similar types of calls have occurred over a short period of time to direct police resources to repeat call locations

crime pattern analysis

using crime report data to identify groups of crime that are related in some way to direct police resources to prevent future crime and/or apprehend the offenders

criminal investigate analysis

entails the process of constructing “profiles of offenders who have committed serious crimes against strangers particularly rape or murder

geographical profiling

subset of criminal investigative analysis, uses geographic locations of an offenders crimes (encounter or body dump sites)

problem offender and victim analysis

using data to identify and prioritize individual offenders by number, type, and seriousness of their crimes and victims by their victimizations

problem analysis

an approach/method/process conducted within the police agency in which formal criminal justice theory, research methods and comprehensive data collection and analysis procedures are use in a systematic way to conduct in depth examination of develop informed responses to, and evaluate crime and disorder problems

trend analysis

includes the aggregation of crime and other police data, typically by time period and by geographic area to identify increases or decreases in crime

districting and redistricting analysis

include specific methods and software that are used to determine the best geographic boundaries of districts and beats within a jurisdiction

patrol staffing analysis

includes examining calls for service and unit history to conduct workload calculations by area and shift

community focused analysis

supports community policing and is an important part of an agencies transparency and collaboration with its community

cost benefit analysis

assessment of the relative cost of a particular program of initiative in the police department in comparison with the benefit or impact of that program or initiative