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Crime Mapping
Crime mapping is the process of taking events and displaying them spatially across a certain geographic space. It allows the user a different perspective on crime and disorder problems as events can be seen in the context of social spaces, geographic clusters, and temporal variations. Crime mapping has evolved from simply plotting criminal incidents on a paper map with pins to complex analysis techniques that allow the prediction of future crime locations. Researchers and police officials have also seen the benefit of mapping not only crime, but other geographical elements which help paint a fuller picture of the underlying criminal phenomenon. Mapping is an important adjunct to community policing and problem because it allows analysts to map, visualize, and examine patterns of crime. This entry discusses the development, mechanics, and many applications of crime mapping as it serves to inform crime analysis.
Advent of Crime Mapping
The use of crime mapping or looking at incidents in a geographic space has been a popular tool in the social sciences. In the 1920s and 1930s, sociologists in Chicago examined the impact of social disorganization on crime rates and used geographic analysis to show how different sections of the city experienced differing crime rates based on their poverty levels. It became clear that looking at social problems and their eventual solutions from a spatial perspective was an additional tool that researchers, city planners, and law enforcement agencies could adopt. In policing circles, before the advent of computers, police officials would use color-coded pins to identify crime locations on a paper city map.
Over time, police officials could discern whether there were patterns in certain neighborhoods, whether crime migrated from one area to the next, or whether a police response had the desired effect of reducing crime in a particular neighborhood. During the early 1990s, the paper map and color-coded pins in the chief’s office were replaced by computer screens, keyboards, and databases. The advent of computerization and technology would allow crime mapping to enter its next phase and become the scientific, accurate, and predictive tool it is today. Technological innovations in policing include mobile data terminals (MDTs), computer mainframes, easily accessible desktop software, client/server technology, for example. The MDTs installed in patrol cars allow for the sharing of information among dispatchers, officers on patrol, and citizens requesting police assistance. All of this information is stored on departmental computer mainframes and is now easily accessible using desktop software.
Crime Mapping Mechanics
Computerized crime mapping relies on geographic information systems (GIS) software. There are several out-of-the-box packages available to the public, and there are more elaborate mainframe systems for large agencies to consider. Most police departments can use desktop GIS programs that are connected to the various databases created by the police department. Spatial analysis programs operate by allowing the user to overlay different layers of data or information on a virtual or computerized map. The map usually represents the jurisdiction, with a street network and other geographic attributes such as parks, water features, and major roads and highways. The user can rely on numerous different types of maps, ranging from the city level, the county level, the state level, the national level, all the way up to the international level. Most police agencies, however, will rely on the city level or the county level to plot and analyze their data.
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