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Crime Analysis
Crime analysis, the second stage of the SARA (scanning, analysis, response, assessment) problem-solving process, represents the heart of the process. Comprehensively analyzing a problem is critical to the success of a problem-solving effort. Effective tailor-made responses cannot be developed unless people know what is causing the problem. Thus, the purpose of analysis is to learn as much as possible about problems in order to identify their causes; officers must gather information from sources inside and outside their agency about the scope, nature, and causes of problems.
Some people describe crime analysis as an art, others as a science, and still others as a discipline. Crime analysis can be any or all of these. Crime analysis is the study of crime trends and patterns, the art of turning data into information, and the practice of statistical, investigative, and problem-solving support.
The focus of crime analysis varies from one agency or jurisdiction to another, and from one crime analyst to another. This entry describes the evolution of crime analysis and then goes into more detail on the types of crime analysis, the many applications, and related technologies. This entry concludes with a discussion of the future of crime analysis. While crime analysis in general is discussed, the primary focus is specifically on crime analysis for community policing and problem solving.
One might be tempted to circumvent or give only passing attention to the analysis phase of the problem-solving process, believing that the nature of the problem is obvious, succumbing to pressure to quickly solve the problem, or feeling that the pressure of calls for service (CFS) precludes having time for detailed inquiries into the nature of the problem. However, as will be seen, problem solvers must resist these temptations or they risk addressing a problem that does not exist or implementing solutions that are ineffective in the long run.
Evolution
Crime analysis was first recognized as a discipline in England in the early 19th century with the advent of the first modern police force. The detectives were tasked with collecting, collating, and analyzing police information to help solve crimes. Early crime analysis, including pin mapping, began in the United States about a century later. The first major incentive driving crime analysis in U.S. police agencies came in the 1970s with funding provided by the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA). Federal grants allowed police departments to set up crime analysis units (often referred to as Integrated Criminal Apprehension Program units because of the LEAA program focus) as well as receive training and establish evaluation programs. A 2010 survey by the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics found that this is a growing field: While only 38% of all municipal police and county sheriff’s agencies used crime analysis, 96% of all such agencies serving jurisdictions of more than 100,000 population did so; moreover, while only 27% of all such agencies employed crime mapping capabilities, 94% of these agencies serving jurisdictions of more than 100,000 population did so. Many police departments, primarily in rural areas or very small agencies, have not had the resources for crime analysis or exposure to the value of crime analysis.
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- Changing Agency Culture
- Agency Mission and Values, Changes in
- Community Policing, Discretionary Authority Under
- Community Policing: Resources, Time, and Finances in Support of
- Customer-Based Policing
- Decentralizing the Organization/Organizational Change
- Implementation of Community Policing
- Involving Local Businesses
- Learning Organization
- Measuring Officer Performance
- Officers’ Job Satisfaction
- Publicity Campaigns
- Recruiting for Quality and Diversity
- Roles, Chief Executives’
- Roles, First-Line Supervisors’
- Roles, Middle Managers’
- Roles, Officers’
- Strategic Planning
- Crime Analysis: Technologies and Techniques
- Evaluation and Assessment
- Foundations: Evolution of Community Policing and Problem Solving
- Broken Windows Theory
- Building Partnerships and Stakeholders
- Citizen Patrols
- Collaboration With Outside Agencies
- Community Cohesion and Empowerment
- Community Justice
- Community Policing and Problem Solving, Definition of
- Community Policing, Evolution of
- Community Policing: What It Is Not
- Community Prosecution
- Community, Definition of
- Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design
- Directed Patrol, Studies of
- Evidence-Based Policing
- Fear of Crime
- Flint, Michigan, Experiment
- Foot Patrols
- Generations (Three) of Community Policing
- Intelligence-Led Policing
- International Community Policing
- Investigations, Community Policing Strategies for
- Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment
- Metropolitan Police Act of 1829
- Place-Based Policing
- Police Mission
- Police-Community Relations
- Policing, Three Eras of
- Predictive Policing
- Problem-Oriented Policing, Goldstein’s Development of
- Problem-Oriented Policing: Elements, Processes, Implications
- Problem-Solving Courts
- Problem-Solving Process (SARA)
- Problem, Definition of
- Restorative Justice
- Situational Crime Prevention
- Social Capital
- Team Policing
- Volunteers, Police Use of
- Wickersham Commission
- Future Considerations
- Public Safety Issues
- Supporting Legislation and National Organizations
- Center for Problem-Oriented Policing
- Community Oriented Policing Services, Office of
- Community Policing Consortium
- Executive Sessions on Policing
- Homeland Security
- National Center for Community Policing
- National Crime Prevention Council
- Neighborhood Associations
- Operation Weed and Seed
- Police Foundation
- Regional Community Policing Institutes
- Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994
- Training and Curriculum
- “What Works”—Selected Strategies and Initiatives
- Colleges and Universities, Community Policing Strategies for
- Domestic Violence, Community Policing Strategies for
- Drug Crimes, Community Policing Strategies for
- Elderly Victimization, Community Policing Strategies for
- Gang Crimes, Community Policing Strategies for
- Immigrant Populations, Community Policing Strategies for
- Immigration: Issues, Law, and Police Training
- Public Housing, Community Policing Strategies for
- Repeat Victimization, Community Policing Strategies for
- Rural Areas, Community Policing in
- School Violence and Safety, Community Policing Strategies for
- State Police/Patrol, Community Policing Strategies for
- Traffic Problems, Community Policing Strategies for
- Youthful Offenders, Community Policing Strategies for
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