Crime mapping
What’s been happening since we last met?
• See a lot at this conference
• Survey of the use of GIS and crime
analysis
• Evaluation of GIS-based information
sharing systems
• Geographic targeting of stop and search
• PSU good practice guide
– Crime Mapping: Improving Performance
• Launched yesterday
“Crime mapping is an
important and flexible way
of supporting a wide
range of policing
functions. It can also
provide a platform where
data from the different
partners in a CDRP can
be meaningfully brought
together”
Hazel Blears MP
The purpose of the guide
• Helps to identify how crime mapping
can be used
• How the opportunities it offers can be
realised
• Designed for front line police officers
• Not based on abstract theory, but is
written with a firm grip on reality
Explains what crime mapping is all
about
• Exploits the inherent geographical
quality of crimes and incidents
–
–
–
–
–
–
Not just about hotspot maps
Where do offenders live?
Where do the most vulnerable communities live?
How do offenders travel to the crime location?
Where are our emerging problem areas?
What are the characteristics of our high crime
neighbourhoods that cause crime?
– Why do crimes occur in one area and not
another?
Explains what crime mapping is all
about
• It combines,
– The skills of people
– The practical use of data and information
– The application of technology
• Geographical Information
Systems
–
–
–
–
Desktop software
In-house customised information system
Web-based system
Mobile handheld computer devices
Explains what crime mapping is all
about
• Can be applied at all the NIM levels
– In all intelligence products
– Across all analytical techniques
• Supports intelligence-led, evidencebased approach
• Better informs – visually accessible to a
diverse audience
• Mechanism for working with partners
What is in the guide?
• Demonstrates how crime mapping can be
used
–
–
–
–
–
Policing
Intelligence development
Performance management
Partnership working
Crime prevention
• Explains the main principles
– Good quality data
– Technology
– Resourcing requirements
• Describes what senior police officers need to
do to develop crime mapping
Crime Mapping: Improving Performance
“Crime mapping … has been fundamental in
improving police performance in the West
Midlands, and in recent months reducing all
crime by 20%"
Assistant Chief Constable Nick Tofiluk
West Midlands Police
Putting it on the map
The principles of crime mapping
• Recording the address location of the
crime
• Referencing the crime record to other
geographic information
– Geocoding to a gazetteer (assigning geographic
coordinates)
– Ordnance Survey mapping data
– Census, Neighbourhood Statistics, Partnership data
• Good quality data
– In some forces only 25% of crime data is geocoded
Putting it on the map
The principles of crime mapping
•
The need for good quality data
100%
25%
60%
Putting it on the map
The principles of crime mapping
• Dumfries and Galloway
Putting it on the map
The principles of crime mapping
• Dumfries and Galloway
– Integrated GIS and gazetteer into crime recording system
• Capture of address information has
significantly improved
– The quality of recording the address/location details of
crimes is now extremely precise and accurate - geocoding
hit rates have reached 100%
– The process for capturing address/location details of crimes
is quicker
– The cost of cleaning data and making amendments is now
much reduced
• Cost savings of over 70%
• Other forces e.g. Hertfordshire
How can I use crime mapping?
Generating intelligence products
• Crime mapping forms an integral subset of
analysis
– Not just for visualising crime patterns or as an after thought
– Helping understand why crime happens
– Plays a role across all the intelligence products and
analytical techniques
“Making crime mapping more integral to analysis has made
our intelligence products more innovative” Senior Analyst
Mark Dallison, Lancashire Constabulary.
How can I use crime mapping?
Generating intelligence products
• West Midlands
• FLINTS
• Project Spectrom
– Priority Neighbourhoods
– Partnership activity
– Target and prioritise
responses
How can I use crime mapping?
Generating intelligence products
Vehicle Problem Profile
Camden, London
• “We think we have a vehicle crime problem”
• “Not quite sure what it is”
• “We think it relates mainly to local residents
having their cars broken into or stolen at
night”
Theft of vehicle crime hotspots
Age of offenders
Age of theft of and theft from vehicle accused
40.0%
Theft from vehicles
35.0%
Theft of vehicles
30.0%
25.0%
20.0%
15.0%
10.0%
5.0%
Over 44
40 to 44
35 to 39
30 to 34
25 to 29
18 to 24
10 to 17
Unclassified
0.0%
Victims
Theft of vehicles
Camden victims (58%)
Non-Camden victims (42%)
Type of vehicles stolen
Vehicle type description
Offences
%
Hatchback
1258
21.7%
Saloon
1433
24.7%
Estate
220
3.8%
People carrier
45
0.8%
Convertible
120
2.1%
Sports
42
0.7%
4 X 4's
4
0.1%
Moped or scooter
1494
25.8%
Motor cycle
755
13.0%
Motor caravan
11
0.2%
Van
274
4.7%
Other
50
0.9%
Not known
23
0.4%
Types of cars stolen
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Make
FORD
VAUXHALL
VOLKSWAGEN
NISSAN
BMW
ROVER
HONDA
MERCEDES
PEUGEOT
FIAT
Approx
% of all
thefts
16%
14%
12%
7%
5%
5%
4%
6%
4%
4%
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
Make
FORD
VAUXHALL
FORD
VOLKSWAGEN
NISSAN
Model
Fiesta
Astra
Escort
Golf
Micra
Approx
% of
all
thefts
5%
4%
4%
4%
3%
(b)
Scooters and mopeds
Piaggio Vespa and Typhoon and Gilera Runner
(65%)
Motorbikes
Honda CB, Yamaha R6 and Suzuki GSX (60%)
Cars
Motorbikes
Scooters and mopeds
Recovery status of vehicles
Recovery status of stolen vehicles in Camden
60.0%
% all vehicles
% cars
50.0%
% motorbikes
40.0%
% scooters and mopeds
30.0%
20.0%
Unknown
Other
Stolen/Taken
Recovery status
Rec
Part/Dam
Rec Part
Rec Intact
Rec
Damaged
Damaged
Not Stolen
No Interest
0.0%
Rec DM/Prop
10.0%
T h e f t o f v e h ic le s b y t im e o f d a y ( a o r is t ic t r e n d )
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
2200+
2000+
1800+
1600+
1400+
1200+
1000+
0800+
0600+
0400+
0200+
0000+
0
Clerkenwell hotspot
Vehicle type
How would you respond to this?
Camden
Clerkenwell (n)
Clerkenwell(%)
Car
51%
41
18%
Sports or convertible
3%
5
2%
Scooter or moped
26%
95
42%
Motor cycle
13%
70
31%
Van
5%
3
1%
Other
2.0%
10
4%
Not known
0.5%
0
0%
Reducing vehicle crime in Portsmouth
• Crime and Disorder Reduction Strategy
– Target for 2001-2004: reduce vehicle crime by
17%
– Increase of 16% in 2002 and further increases
being projected
– Needed a new approach to address this growing
crime problem
– Turned to crime mapping and problem oriented
analysis
Reducing vehicle crime in Portsmouth
• Problem profile identified,
– Portsmouth had a number of ‘hot-streets’;
– Half of all vehicle crime occurred in 175 of Portsmouth’s
1600 streets
– 10% of vehicle crime occurred in just 12 streets
– Vehicle crime was concentrated in many repeat locations
that had not been previously identified
– Certain high-risk locations were identified. E.g. car parks at
hospitals, doctors surgeries, and sports clubs, and in areas
close to entertainment districts
– Repeat offenders tended to travel across Portsmouth while
others committed crime local to their home
Reducing vehicle crime in Portsmouth
• Operation Cobra
– Shifted the emphasis of work away from
previously predominantly offender based activity,
to all aspects of the problem triangle
– Greater emphasis on targeted location work
– E.g. a crime reduction strategy that focused
problem-solving responses to the worst affected
areas
Reducing vehicle crime in Portsmouth
• Its 12 month impact,
– 33% reduction in thefts of vehicles
– 37% - 58% reduction in vehicle crime in areas that
had been determined as ‘hot-streets’
– An overall 29% reduction of vehicle crime across
Portsmouth
– A total of 1220 less vehicle crimes representing a
cost saving of approximately £1,220,000
Reducing vehicle crime in Portsmouth
• Achievements were not dependent on large
additional resource inputs
– Were predominantly based on using existing resources in a much
more focused way to produce sustained reduction.
“When we moved into the targeted response phase, victim
and location aspects of the problem triangle were
concentrated on before offender focus.
During parts of the Operation, due to competing resource
priorities offender based activity had to be completely
suspended, yet reductions in crime continued to be sustained
from just focusing on victim and location work alone.”
Chief Inspector Julie Earle, Hampshire Constabulary
Reassurance policing
STREET PATROLS
• Intelligence gathering through
to response
RESPONSE SERVICES
INTELLIGENCE
Database
Reporting
Form
GIS, GPS,
Gazetteer
Information/Location/Photo
Camera
“Crime mapping technology has
provided for an effective electronic
mechanism that directly feeds into joint
NIM control strategy and tactical
processes” Inspector Mark Kenwood
Email
Email
NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICING
CDRP GIS
Reassurance policing
Community lifestyle profiles
High
F39
Average
Fear of burglary
Poor
Average
Police response
Reassurance
Targeting
F39:
Settled older couples
and
pensioners
- Where dowith
they low
live?incomes
renting small flats and
maisonettes
• Highest levels of fear of becoming
victims of burglary, rape, mugging and
physical attack by strangers
• Highest rate of victimisation (for all
types of crime) immediately outside
their own homes
• High dependence on public transport
• Respond well to poster advertising..?!
Reassurance policing
How can I use crime mapping?
Results analysis and performance management
How can I use crime mapping?
Results analysis and performance management
• Crime mapping is at
the heart of
CompStat
– Visualise operational
decisions
– Resource allocation
– Managerial
accountability
• Thames Valley
– Uses live and
interactive crime
mapping
How can I use crime mapping?
Information sharing and partnership working
• Use of GIS-based information sharing
systems
• Crime mapping is fundamental to supporting
CDRP business functions
– Scanning facility to identify community safety problems
– Easy access (in a controlled environment) to partnership
data
– Analysis of crime and community safety problems in a multiagency environment
– Providing the public with facts and reassurance about
community safety (e.g. www.beatcrime.info)
– Timely management performance reporting information
“Within two-clicks I found the information I needed, saving me
pestering my analyst to produce a report on how robbery has
changed in the last few months” WMP Sector Inspector
New developments in crime mapping
Prospective mapping
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•
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Applied statistics from spatial epidemiology for modelling the
communicability of diseases
Burglary is communicable
Properties within 400m of a burgled house are at an elevated
risk for upto one month – ‘near repeats’
New developments in crime mapping
Prospective mapping
• 35% more accurate (accuracy measure does account for
differences in hotspot area)
Traditional hotspot mapping
Prospective hotspot mapping
How to make full use of crime mapping
• Core infrastructure is in place,
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Hardware and software
Police records
Mapping and geographic data
Analysts and other key staff
• But to make better use of crime
mapping requires a gentle push
How to make full use of crime mapping
• Recommendation 1
– Champion crime mapping at the senior level
• Recommendation 2
– Create a geographic data management and
support team
• Recommendation 3
– Maintain high levels of geographic data quality
• Recommendation 4
– Develop skills in crime mapping
Who can help?
• National resource?
• Contacts
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Home Office
National organisations
Universities
Useful resources
• Comprehensive how to guide…?
• At least two copies per
BCU
• Available on the Home
Office PSU and JDI
websites
• Written for senior
officers
• But also written for
analysts, GIS users,
intelligence managers ..
Home Office Survey
Use of GIS for crime analysis
• Almost all analysts
surveyed see GIS and
crime mapping as a
key part of their job
and use it regularly
• Analysts expressed
concern about:
– Poor quality crime data
– Insufficient GIS Training
– Adequacy of GIS software
resources
Home Office Survey
Use of GIS, crime mapping and crime analysis
• Large variations in the way GIS is applied and types
of analyses conducted
– Many are using GIS on a daily basis to support operational
crime reduction work, but in some cases it is used principally
as a tool for producing maps for audits and strategies
– Types of analyses vary from plotting crimes on a map to
more complex analyses using multiple datasets
– It is still only the minority that apply problem solving
principles and models (like SARA and PAT) to their crime
mapping work
– Dissemination of the outputs of GIS analysis to frontline
officers appears to be occurring to varying degrees – but
many felt that their analyses were not used enough in
operational decision making
Home Office Survey
Use of GIS, crime mapping and crime analysis
• Next steps:
– Visit a sample of Force/CDRP analysts to gather
good practice examples
– Another window of opportunity to complete the
questionnaire
– Good practice report for analysts, to complement
the guide for senior officers
• Discussion of interim findings in
Workshop 2 and 4
Home Office Research
Evaluation of GIS-based information sharing systems
• Aims
– Identify the key lessons learned for them to be applied into
new systems or as existing systems are enhanced or
expanded
– Identify how they can be best used to support the
information sharing and analysis business functions and
requirements of CDRPs
– Identify common weaknesses of and across the Systems
that need to be rectified to achieve maximum effectiveness
and impact
– Produce recommendations on how Information Sharing
Systems should be further developed to provide for the
needs of all community safety partnerships nationally, that is
achievable, consistent and sustainable
Home Office Research
Evaluation of GIS-based information sharing systems
• Research considers the following
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Functionality: tools, services and data
Project management and administration
Resourcing
Information sharing processes
Impact
• Due for completion in Summer 2005
Home Office Research
Geographic targeting of stop and search
• Are searches geographically concentrated?
• What’s the relationship between searches and
recorded crime?
– What impact does the geographic targeting of stop and search
have on crime?
• Can the disparity of searches be explained in
geographic terms?
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Crime that happens
Profile of offenders
Specific incidents
Available population for being searched
• 12 month research programme
Home Office Research
Geographic targeting of stop and search
• Concentration and effect
– Targeting
– Extent of impact
Stop & Search
Crime hotspot
Home Office Research
Geographic targeting of stop and search
• Concentration and effect
– Intensity
Time
Time
Time
Home Office Research
Geographic targeting of stop and search
• Concentration and effect
– Frequency
Time
Time
Time
Home Office Research
Geographic targeting of stop and search
Crime mapping
What’s also been happening since we last met?
• Out in all good book
stores from June
Thank you
Spencer Chainey
The Jill Dando Institute of Crime Mapping
University College London