Pros and Cons of Crime Mapping

Benjamin Matias

American Public University

Instructor: Dr. Robert Mathis

CMRJ512 Police Administration

Research Paper: Crime Mapping

Introduction

Crime mapping is not a new concept, but rather a new approach to crime analysis. Police

forces, in the past, would use a big map on a wall, and on this map, they would put pins on the

location(s) where crimes had happened. Pins on the maps would fluctuate, as crimes were

committed and reported. This process was helpful in some ways but not help in many other

ways. In the past, you were unable to map crimes according to days of the week or hours of the

day. Now, with the current crime mapping, one is able to analyze if crime increases or decreases

on the weekends, or if crime increases or decreases during the daylight hours or hours of

darkness.

These maps of past were only visual aids, and could not be saved for future analysis,

unless photos of the map were taken. This static photographs weren’t as accurate, because they

didn’t take into account the map pins that were removed and/or added as crimes were solved and

new ones were being committed. Over the years, the use of mapping has increased, in part

because of increased use of technology, and of more user-friendly analytic software programs,

including Geographic Information Systems [CITATION Cri \l 1033 ]

In this research paper, I will review the history of crime mapping as well as the pros and

cons of its use. I would also cover the terminology used and the different styles of mapping

offered to aid in the everlasting fight against crime.

History
The first use of mapping can be traced back to the early 19th century. France and England

were the first countries to use crime mapping. Crime analysis is just a little younger then crime

itself [ CITATION Jus \l 1033 ]. As the first crime was committed and logged, following crimes

were also logged, thus, crimes were analyzed to formulate patterns therein. Mapping of these

crimes were on a big map and the crimes were charted by pins (Figure 1, [ CITATION Har99 \l

1033 ]).
Running header: Crime Mapping 4

This method was useful for the present crimes, as it showed where the crimes were

occurring. However, as new crimes were committed and old pins were being replaced, the data

of past crimes was lost. The best way for this map to be saved was to take a photograph of it and

save it for future comparisons. This method was flawed, because at the time there was no way of

tracking specific crimes such as robberies, burglaries, homicides and others, due to the fact that

the crimes would overlap. This would make it extremely difficult to analyze a specific crime.

Also, when pins of different colors were being used, the map could be just too difficult to read

and understand. Pin maps were useful in the beginning of the crime cycle, as time progressed and

more crimes were committed and added to the map, it made the map useless to the user.

Visualize a world without the use computer mapping. There are many who believe that

“informal crime analysis, in its simplest sense, is performed by all officers as they investigate

crimes. Crime analysis is the quality of examining one crime occurrence and comparing it with

similar past events. In essence, the officer is a working crime analysis unit as he compares his

investigations with his past experiences and with the experiences of others” [ CITATION Jus \l

1033 ]. The evolution of crime mapping has developed into a system that can be used by law

enforcement nationwide and could possibly be used worldwide.

Ever since the invention of maps, where the geographic depiction of specific features on

the communities showed the streets and city boundaries, police agencies have used these maps to

assign patrol areas. The maps were also use to route out the best emergency egress and ingress

for emergency personnel. By breaking down the locations of crimes, these maps were also

helpful to aid officers find specific areas where the calls for help were being generated

[ CITATION Har99 \l 1033 ]. As desktop computers became less expensive and easier to use,
Running header: Crime Mapping 5

crime mapping started being used by big agencies as well as small ones. The main software used

by the majority of law enforcement is the geographic information system (GIS). A GIS is a set of

computer-based tools that allows the user to modify, visualize, query, and analyze geographic

and tabular data [ CITATION Rac05 \l 1033 ]. This is a powerful software tool that allows the

user to create any kind of geographic representation, from a simple point map to a three-

dimensional visualization of spatial or temporal data [ CITATION Rac05 \l 1033 ].

Pros of the use of crime mapping

Each and every law enforcement agency and law enforcement officer ultimate goal is the

prevention of crime. Crime mapping is a tool used to mark the locations of victims as well as

offenders in order to locate and prevent localized crime. Armed with this information, the police

departments are able to identify where the criminal activity is more prominent, and also where

the victims are located. This information would show which neighborhoods are the most critical

spots. With this information, the department can track how the criminals move from location to

location. This is done by breaking down the crime by time of day and by day of weeks and by

day of the month.

For example, in determining the criminal mind set for robberies, one could look at the

days of month and conclude that the criminals are more active in the beginning of the month.

This, and information on the victims, could tell us that the criminals are focusing on victims that

receive their support checks in the beginning of the month.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C8wijiYUQAAMjG8.jpg)

GIS is a tool that can be extremely helpful, by aiding a person in analyzing all this

information. In the past, an entire team of officers had to conduct field investigations, and collect

data and transform that data onto a big map on a wall. By using GIS, data can be collected from

days, weeks, months, and even years, by a single officer, in a much more efficient manner.

The inspector would check for crime patterns by examining where past victims and

offenders lived and where crimes occurred. This could help police determine which

neighborhoods attract offenders and where unknown offenders may reside[ CITATION Natnd \l

1033 ]. By creating a map, this would give the investigator visual data to aid in his investigation.
Running header: Crime Mapping 7

Police departments have had numerous rewards from using crime mapping systems to

fight crime. One of the advantages of crime mapping is that it has resulted in the use of hot-spots

policing approach, in which the police now only target very small geographic areas[ CITATION

Cri12 \l 1033 ]. A hot-spot is a high crime area, also described as a group of similar crimes

committed by one or more individuals at locations within close proximity to one another

(International Association of Crime Analysts (2011). These hot-spot are formulated by gathering

crime patterns, which are groups or two of more crimes reported to or discovered by police that

are unique because they meet certain conditions (International Association of Crime Analysts

(2011). "If you can use crime mapping to show what areas are being targeted and what areas

actually don't have any problem, then you can assign your resources in those problem areas, to

actually focus on time of day, day of the week and so on. I think that if you saturate an area with

law enforcement, then you are eventually going to prevent something from happening"

[ CITATION BENnd \l 1033 ].

In terms of community policing, crime mapping can show police departments their work

as the crime stats lessen in numbers due to proactive police work. This would bring trusting

relationships between the community and the police agency. If this information is disclosed to a

community, it helps them see the rate of crimes in their area, and, best yet, they will see crime

rate go down. This form of reassurance is priceless.

Cons of the use of crime mapping

There is no denying that crime mapping is the wave of the future in law enforcement,

however, it is not without its flaws. Even though crime maps are extremely useful to the public,

they does not cover, one hundred percent, safety and security issues [ CITATION nd16 \l 1033 ].

There are times when information on the crime maps focuses on limited facts. This is not good,

because at times it focuses on small locations and not on large areas. When this happens, police

may stop considering smaller crimes which are also problematic to the community.

There are people that believe that crime mapping can also aid criminals. It is believed that

criminals are being given vital intelligence about police tactics by going into the local internet

area crime maps [ CITATION Ben08 \l 1033 ]. These maps, which are disseminated to the

communities with information of burglaries, muggings and car crimes in their neighborhoods,

could in fact be aiding criminals plans their future crimes [ CITATION Ben08 \l 1033 ]. Given

this information, the criminals would have knowledge as to where the police would focus, and

thus the criminals would then move onto the less crime populated areas. This is definitely

something that was not taught of when the crime mapping systems came into existence. By

sharing this information with the public, we are also sharing it with the criminals that are plotting

to harm the innocent. There is also a large concern that crime mapping would have a large

impact on house market values. People would not want to buy homes in areas with high crime

rates [ CITATION Ben08 \l 1033 ]. Homeowners are concerned because their property values

would be affected.

Another disadvantage of crime mapping is that it requires a large number of data in order

to be effective, and this information must be retrieved by police date bases. This information

must then be processed into the GIS. There are many instances in which the software used in the
Running header: Crime Mapping 9

different police departments aren’t compatible, and this makes the process difficult and at time

useless. Because of this, smaller agencies will suffer as they will not be able afford the new

technology of crime mapping. As crime mapping software become more and more advanced and

sophisticated and increasingly critical to police forces, these departments will need to update

their hardware and software, as well as hire more trained and professional crime analysts

[ CITATION Mar15 \l 1033 ] .

This new technology requires a professional in the field of computer programing and

crime analyzing. Police departments all have specific duties and face unique issues that requires

skilled crime analysts who can manipulate the mapping software based on specific area

necessities. Customizing crime mapping software increases a department’s ability to efficiently

allocate resources. For example, many departments are able to merge data from the computer

aided dispatch (CAD) system to provide patrol supervisors with real-time crime mapping

strategies.[ CITATION Mar15 \l 1033 ]. The computer aided dispatch (CAD) systems is a

powerful real time command and control process, this system keeps information of;

 Police,

 Fire Deparments,

 EMS, and

 Public works

 Calls for service. [ CITATION whand \l 1033 ].

The sharing of criminal activity by way of crime maps can be as harmful as it is good.

Sharing this information is aimed at reducing fear of crime and increasing public confidence in

policing, but it is having the opposite effect [CITATION Dan11 \l 1033 ]. Research into fear of
Running header: Crime Mapping 10

crime has often concluded that the link between crime fear and recorded levels of crime is false.

Even if crime decreases significantly, the public would still believe it to be increasing, this is due

to the fear instilled in them. By releasing this data, the majority of the public would have an

increase fear of crime, this is due to the added attention shown it by the

neighborhood[CITATION Dan11 \l 1033 ].

Conclusion.

The purpose of this research paper was not to challenge the good or the bad of

crime mapping, but to give a small overview of both pros and cons to crime mapping. The

history of crime mapping is extremely interesting. To think that a large map on a wall was used

to track clusters of crimes, seems inefficient. As the crimes came and went so did the pins on the

map. We reviewed the fact that once the pins were removed from the map, the information was

gone. This prevented proper analyzing for future crime trend tracking. As time passed,

technology and crime mapping became computerized. The information was saved and that data

was used to analyze and formulate crime fighting tactics by law enforcements. As years came so

did new technology, hence the Geographic Information Systems (GIS), which is a computerized

tool which allows the user to modify the search to their specific requirement at the time.

There are several pros and cons for the use and development of crime maps. As for the

author, the one main advancement of the use of crime mapping is the deployment of officers

when they are most needed and to share this information with its citizens. This information is

made available to show the communities that crime is going down and that their law enforcement
Running header: Crime Mapping 11

is fighting crime for their well-being and peace of mind. In retrospect, this information is not

only being seen by the good citizens, it is being reviewed by the criminals. These criminals use

this information to move around and divert their local law enforcement.

Knowledge is both good and bad, it is in the same way a double edge blade. As local law

enforcement attempts to be transparent with their desire to protect the public, these actions are

also criticized by the public as aiding the criminals. However, crime mapping is made available

to benefit both law enforcement and the public.

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