Foundations of Crime Analysis

Data, Analyses, and Mapping

Jeffery T. Walker, Grant R. Drawve

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781317507000
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Criminology
• Index: Social Sciences

In recent years, the fields of crime analysis and environmental criminology have grown in prominence for their advancements made in understanding crime. This book offers a theoretical and methodological introduction to crime analysis, covering the main techniques used in the analysis of crime and the foundation of crime mapping. Coverage includes discussions of:

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• The development of crime analysis and the profession of the crime analyst,

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• The theoretical roots of crime analysis in environmental criminology,

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• Pertinent statistical methods for crime analysis,

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• Spatio-temporal applications of crime analysis,

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• Crime mapping and the intersection of crime analysis and police work,

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• Future directions for crime analysis.

Packed with case studies and including examples of specific problems faced by crime analysts, this book offers the perfect introduction to the analysis and investigation of crime. It is essential reading for students taking courses on crime analysis, crime mapping, crime prevention, and environmental criminology. A companion website offers further resources for students, including flashcards and video and website links. For instructors, it includes chapter-by-chapter PowerPoint slides.

Chapter 1
Practicalities of crime analysis

Chapter Outline

1. Definition of crime analysis
2. Careers in crime analysis
   1. Student internships
   2. Entry-level analysts
   3. Mid-level to senior analysts
3. What to expect with the rest of the book
   1. What about maps?
   2. Crime analysis in action
4. Conclusion
5. Bibliography
6. Questions and exercises

The purpose of this book is to provide a strong foundation for students who are interested in crime analysis while also serving as a reference and overview of topics for practicing crime analysts. Crime analysis and the environmental criminology field have garnered greater attention in recent decades for the advancements made in understanding crime. With the growing popularity of crime analysis as a job opportunity, this book provides a theoretical understanding of crime analysis and main methods used in crime analysis, along with a basic foundation of crime mapping concepts. The goal is to provide you with an understanding of the main areas of crime analysis while providing numerous real-world applications.

Crime analysts are a part of a valuable profession that provides law enforcement agencies with the capability of understanding crime in their jurisdiction. The ability to collect data to assist law enforcement will continue to increase. Large agencies are already making strong commitments to crime analysis. In early 2017, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) had a posting stating they were going to hire around 100 crime analysts to assist their analysis-driven strategies at the precinct level. With large law enforcement agencies seeing the value in crime analysis across their precincts, it is likely the role of crime analysts will continue to expand to smaller agencies looking for guidance on policing matters. This makes sense based on how technology is influencing our lives. Think about how many people have smartphones now and the apps available on the phones, many of which have the ability to track your location, prompt surveys/questionnaires based on where you are located, and have the option for you to provide feedback. Data are the wave of the future, but it is the job of crime analysts to turn “big data” into “smart data” agencies can utilize to improve their communities. This does not necessarily entail knowing complex statistical techniques, but does include understanding the data collection process, potential issues and limitations, and what can be interpreted from the data without exaggerating the findings (see Huff and Geis, 1993; Monmonier and de Blij, 1996). Developing a foundation of data literacy is pivotal as a crime analyst.

Additionally, there is a strong societal movement in transparency among law enforcement agencies, notably influenced by social media coverage of incidents between police and suspects. This played out most proximately in the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, and the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore. The argument that arises is the constitutionality of certain policing practices (i.e. stop, question, and frisk). Certain types of policing practices have been argued to infringe on and violate the Fourth (search and seizure) and Fourteenth (equal protection of laws) Amendments. This type of movement necessitates the ability for law enforcement agencies to comprehend and evaluate their current practices to determine if changes are required. This brings the importance of crime analysts to the forefront when trying to understand crime and police strategies in any jurisdiction. Police often are not trained in this capacity, leaving a void in the ability for agencies to identify potential issues or benefits from current practices. This is where crime analysis units and crime analysts enter the equation.

Definition of Crime Analysis

Crime analysis is a broad area that can cover many different topics. Because of this, a comprehensive definition of crime analysis is not easy. The definition we will follow in this book is: the study of crime and public disorder problems with the goal of crime prevention, crime reduction, and apprehension of criminals while evaluating tactics and providing translational knowledge to police agencies. When reading that definition, many things come to mind about what contributes to crime analysis. That is what makes crime analysis such a dynamic field. The elements of this definition are discussed briefly in this section, and the chapters in the textbook are ordered to understand the different elements of crime analysis in relation to this definition.

Law enforcement agencies commonly deal with two types of calls-for-service: crime and public disorder. Crime is a bit more obvious and refers to calls such as residential burglaries, theft, homicide, motor vehicle theft, and many other criminal offenses. Public disorder calls typically address problems that reflect societal issues, such as noise complaints, juveniles loitering, prostitution, and others. While public disorder issues can be criminal, they are typically less serious than other crimes. This is an important distinction because crime analysis does not always deal with catching a serial offender, but rather, aiding in making the community safer through public disorder analyses. This distinction was made to allow you to understand that crime analysis does not only pertain to media headline crimes such as homicide, rape, and aggravated assaults, it includes many types of analyses.

Crime analysis relies heavily on data to study crime and disorder problems within a jurisdiction. Technology has greatly influenced crime analysis and the ability to collect, store, and analyze data. The data utilized to study crime and disorder problems are essential in providing quality and translational results. Translational refers to the ability to take findings and put them into policy or strategies, which is an important element in law enforcement agencies. The ability of crime analysis to accomplish this is highly dependent on the type of data that are available. If the data are weak, or analysts must rely on data that does not directly address the issue, the analysis will suffer and possibly misinform police officers and policy makers.

Crime analysis, as with many fields in the social sciences, can be examined with methods of scientific inquiry. While data are essential in the analysis of crime and disorder problems, having theoretical knowledge of information such as how neighborhoods deteriorate, the relationship between social and economic factors (such as housing) and crime, and the geographic patterns of criminal activity helps the understanding of the findings. You might not be testing theory within your analysis, but your results should rely on theoretical principles. This is an important step in taking results and making them translational to police officers. The ability to put findings into terms and theoretical reasoning that makes sense allows for more people to understand the issue.

Careers in Crime Analysis

Crime analysts can come from a variety of backgrounds. Like any career, there are those who knew what they wanted to do when they grew up and there are other people who never would have imagined becoming a crime analyst. Different backgrounds can aid in the effectiveness of a crime analysis unit because, when starting in crime analysis, it is not possible to be an expert in each aspect. This section discusses career paths into crime analysis and how crime analysts should be a kind of “jack of all trades” when it comes to their capabilities.

It is not uncommon for police officers to switch over to a crime analysis unit because of their working knowledge with a jurisdiction and policing background. This can be appealing for an agency because the officer has experience on how police officers function in the field. With crime prevention being a main goal of crime analysis, police officers are often the personnel trying to reduce and deter crime. The argument could be made that police officers would be more receptive to a crime analyst who is a former officer versus a crime analyst who does not have “policing” knowledge. While “street” smarts might be appreciated among officers, “book” smarts can greatly benefit crime analysis units.

Due to the popularity of crime analysis interest and job placement, criminology/criminal justice departments at many universities have developed crime analysis and crime mapping courses to provide students with beneficial skills on graduation. The International Association of Crime Analysts (IACA; www.iaca.net) published “Crime Analysis Education Recommendations for Colleges & Universities” in 2012. There are a growing number of universities that offer certificates in crime analysis. Certificates can be appealing to law enforcement agencies because it shows that students have taken credit hours specifically in crime analysis. This can help students understand the problem-solving mindset crime analysis requires and gain experience with software programs analysts use on the job.

While it makes sense that college graduates hired as crime analysts probably have a criminal justice or criminology degree, the nature of the crime analyst job can attract people from other educational backgrounds. Technology is becoming a must in most law enforcement agencies; and with the advancements in technology comes the use of computer programs. Additionally, crime analysis is closely associated with crime mapping, a geography component. Overall, the job of a crime analyst requires data gurus, statistics, theoretical application, problem solving, geographical knowledge, and the ability to convey findings to a variety of people from officers to government officials. That is what makes the crime analysis field appealing for people with educational backgrounds in sociology, geography, psychology, political science, and computer science, along with criminology/criminal justice.

Student internships

Preferably, as a part of their college education, students will have the opportunity to intern with law enforcement agencies. This can provide students with valuable experience by allowing them firsthand knowledge of work in the field. Internships also have the potential to lead to full-time positions with the law enforcement agencies. The ability to get your foot in the door and impress the agency could result in a job or, at the very least, offer networking connections. Internships can consist of ride-alongs with officers, attending briefings, and different types of crime analysis projects. Depending on the type of internship, the information handled could be confidential. Because of the confidential nature of the duties, many internships will require background checks, and some internships may require a polygraph examination. This is an important aspect to keep in mind. It is possible that any issues with the criminal justice system (Driving While Impaired (DWI), public intoxication, drug possession, etc.) will disqualify you from getting any position in the police agency, including as a crime analyst.

To summarize, the job of a crime analyst, even an intern, requires the person to have a dynamic and varied set of skills. Not all skills are necessary in the beginning, but anyone looking to become a crime analyst should understand the kind of desired skills, and should start working toward acquiring those skills. As discussed in this section, some of the skills include knowledge of:

• Policing terminology and functions
• Theoretical basis for people’s behaviors
• Data collection
• Research methods
• Statistics
• Report writing
• Presentation preparation.

There are also very specific skills that are required of crime analysts/interns. These specifi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• List of boxes
• Acknowledgments
• About the authors
• Chapter 1 Practicalities of crime analysis
• Chapter 2 What is crime analysis?
• Chapter 3 Places and individuals: environmental criminology
• Chapter 4 Strategic and tactical crime analysis
• Chapter 5 Problem identification
• Chapter 6 Data
• Chapter 7 Describing crime events
• Chapter 8 Examining multiple elements of crime and place
• Chapter 9 Making inferences from one place to another
• Chapter 10 Useful tips and techniques
• Chapter 11 Spatial and temporal applications
• Chapter 12 Crime mapping
• Chapter 13 Retrospective techniques
• Chapter 14 Predictive techniques, analytics, and applications
• Chapter 15 Future directions
• Appendix A: Crime analyst questionnaire responses
• Appendix Β: National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) group offenses
• Appendix C: Data analysis add-in for Microsoft Excel
• Index