Police Foundation Crime Mapping Newsletter
Volume 6 Issue 1 Winter 2004 -- This issue, the first of 2004, contains articles on a variety of topics, including a discussion about a crime reduction partnership that has been established in the UK; a crime mapping application developed for a police department in Illinois; and highlights of the 2003 International Association of Crime Analysts Conference held in Kansas City, Missouri, in October 2003. Also included is an introduction to the new director of the Crime Mapping and Problem Analysis Laboratory at the Police Foundation.
Volume 5 Issue 4 Fall 2003 -- Volume 5 Issue 4 Fall 2003. This issue, the last of 2003, summarizes and presents the work of the Crime Mapping Laboratory
(CML) over the last several years. Featured articles in this issue include an overview of the CML, a list of all the products and reports produced by CML staff, a description of the recent Advanced Problem Analysis, Crime Analysis, and Crime Mapping training course, and recommendations made by the problem analysis training participants about what current crime analysts can do to advance problem analysis in their own agencies. Lastly, the current editors of the Crime Mapping News are leaving the Police Foundation and have included a note to all of their readers.
Volume 5 Issue 3 Summer 2003 -- Featured articles in this issue include an overview of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a description of the Problem Solving Process used in the Indianapolis Project Safe Neighborhoods Site, and an article on Applying a Problem-Solving Method in a High-Crime City: The St. Louis Strategic Approaches to Community Safety Initiative.
Volume 5 Issue 2 Spring 2003 -- This issue of the Crime Mapping News includes articles submitted by crime mapping professionals on a variety of subjects, including an overview of the recently released CrimeStat II spatial statistics program, a discussion of the use of maps to depict the scale and impact of the crimes of Dr. Harold Shipman, and a technical discussion of a procedure for improving match rates when geocoding to Spanish-named streets and working with incomplete records. Also included in this issue is a summary of the Sixth Annual International Crime Mapping Research Conference, held in Denver, Colorado in December 2002.
Volume 5 Issue 1 Winter 2003 -- This special issue of the Crime Mapping News provides the executive summary of the report “Problem Analysis in Policing,” written and published by the Police Foundation through funding from the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office). The full report introduces and defines problem analysis and provides guidance on how problem analysis can be integrated and institutionalized into modern policing practices. This executive summary is an annotated version of that report and is meant to provide practitioners with an overview.
Volume 4 Issue 4 Fall 2002 -- The topic of this issue is the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) program entitled “Community Mapping, Planning, and Analysis for Safety Strategies” (COMPASS). The articles in this issue include an overview of the COMPASS project from NIJ’s perspective and reports from the Seattle, Washington; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and East Valley, California COMPASS sites. Also included in this issue is a brief review of the Community Safety Information System (CSIS) in Memphis, Tennessee.
Volume 4 Issue 3 Summer 2002 -- The topic of this issue is partnerships between software companies and law enforcement agencies with the goal of developing and/or implementing crime analysis or mapping technology. The articles in this issue include an overview of three-dimensional modeling technology that has been developed to support the law enforcement community and a program that has been developed to introduce geographic profiling techniques to crime analysts at local law enforcement agencies. Also included are the complete answers, including underlying assumptions and detailed explanations, to the “Crime Analysis Challenge.”
Volume 4 Issue 2 Spring 2002 -- The topic of this issue is problem analysis—bringing together crime analysis and problem solving. The articles in this issue include a summary of the Problem Analysis Forum, held in Washington, DC, in February 2002; an excerpt from an article that addresses the importance of primary data collection through discussion and examples; and a summary of the Advanced Crime Mapping & Analysis Symposium, held in Denver, Colorado in June 2001. Also included are truncated answers to the “Crime Analysis Challenge.”
Volume 4 Issue 1 Winter 2002 -- The topic of this issue is how mapping and analytical techniques can be used both in preparation for and in response to terrorist events such as those that occurred on September 11th, 2001. The articles in this issue include a perspective on the analyst’s role in supporting counterterrorist activities and an overview of how GIS has been used to model the World Trade Center site. Also included is an article describing the use of CRIMESolv™ software at the Anne Arundel County, Maryland Police Department. Lastly, this issue includes the first installment of the “Crime Analysis Challenge,” composed of nine questions designed to stimulate thought and discussion.
Volume 3 Issue 4 Fall 2001 -- The topic of this issue is the analysis and mapping of drug activity by drug and/or law enforcement agencies. The articles in this issue include a description of the successful application of crime analysis and mapping to reduce drug and alcohol-related crime in the London borough of Harrow and a discussion of the San Diego, California Police Department’s efforts to deliver GIS-based narcotics information to patrol officers and investigators. This issue also includes an article detailing stealth predator patterns and the importance of early warning systems in addition to an article describing the use of CrimeView® Internet at the Redlands, California Police Department.
Volume 3 Issue 3 Summer 2001 -- The topic of this issue is interactive crime mapping efforts on the Internet. The articles in this issue include an evaluation of the ARJIS mapping website in San Diego County, California; a description of an Internet mapping application under development in Austin, Texas; and a list of law enforcement agency websites that provide interactive mapping capabilities. Also included in this issue is an article about the use of GIS technology for the CBS television show “The District,” and an article about the CrimeMap Tutorial, available through the National Institute of Justice.
Volume 3 Issue 2 Spring 2001 -- The topic of this issue is GIS and school safety. The articles in this issue include a discussion of the use of GIS as a tool for responding to critical incidents at schools; a description of SchoolCOP, a free software package that allows for mapping and analysis of incidents occurring in and around schools; a brief description of MAPSS, an analytical tool that allows for spatial analysis of student pathways, hangouts, and the neighborhoods surrounding schools; an article describing a safe schools mapping initiative developed by the San Diego, California Police Department; and an annotated bibliography of articles, reports, and books relating to the topic of school safety.
Volume 3 Issue 1 Winter 2001 -- The topic of this issue is international crime analysis and crime mapping efforts. The articles in this issue include a discussion of the considerations that may be faced by developing nations in their efforts to implement computerized crime mapping, a discussion of three cases in South Africa where cellular telephone use was mapped to aid criminal apprehension and prosecution efforts, and a study which used GIS to examine corporate deviance and passenger ship accidents in South East Asia and Northern Europe. Also included in this issue is a summary of the 2000 International Crime Mapping Research Conference.
Volume 2 Issue 4 Fall 2000 -- The theme of this issue is mapping traditional law enforcement data sources, such as crime and calls for service, with other non-policing data sources, such as school incident data or probation/parole information. The articles in this issue include a brief summary of a lecture arguing for a coordinated approach to crime control using social, health, crime, and economic data; a research study in Texas that integrates law enforcement and victim services data; a study comparing crime incident data to environmental factors, school data, and land-use information; and the development of a methamphetamine risk-model using crime, drug use, and demographic data.
Volume 2 Issue 3 Summer 2000 -- The theme of this issue is regional (cross-jurisdictional) data sharing and crime mapping. The articles in this issue cover topics including a statewide crime analysis and mapping project among police agencies in Massachusetts; a data exchange and regional crime mapping initiative in Sussex, UK; and an example of a proposal for a multi-jurisdictional crime mapping initiative sponsored by police departments and other government agencies in the metropolitan Kansas City area.
Volume 2 Issue 2 Spring 2000 -- The topic of this issue is how crime mapping and GIS can be used as tools for tactical crime analysis. The articles cover topics such as basic concepts of tactical crime analysis; advanced methods of mapping serial crime; the Automated Tactical Analysis of Crime (ATAC) software that assists crime mapping by providing “good” tactical crime analysis data; and a discussion of how the Cambridge, Massachusetts Police Department conducts tactical crime analysis.
Volume 2 Issue 1 Winter 2000 -- The topic of this issue is the implementation of crime mapping into a police agency. The articles in this issue describe implementation projects by the Jefferson Parish, Louisiana Sheriff’s Office and the Hayward, California Police Department. Also included in this issue is a description of CrimeStat, a freely available spatial statistics software program, and a discussion of the development of the crime analysis unit within the Scottsdale, Arizona Police Department.
Volume 1 Issue 4 Fall 1999 -- The topic of this issue is “MapInfo or ESRI, the Great Debate.” The articles in this issue, authored by representatives from two major GIS software companies—MapInfo and ESRI (Environmental Systems Research Institute), provide an overview of the capabilities of a variety of software programs and their application to crime mapping. Also included in this issue is a discussion of crime mapping efforts and a review of mapping products prepared by the Overland Park, Kansas Police Department.
Volume 1 Issue 3 Summer 1999 -- The articles in this issue include a discussion of privacy issues and recommendations for the presentation of geocoded data; a technical discussion of crime mapping on the Internet; and a description of innovative crime mapping efforts by the Mesa, Arizona Police Department.
Volume 1 Issue 2 Spring 1999 -- The articles in this issue address a range of topics, including a program whereby drug law enforcement agencies can receive custom maps free of charge from the National Guard Bureau Counterdrug Directorate’s (NGB-CD) Digital Mapping Initiative (DMI); a brief introduction to geocoding, the process of placing data on a map based on a common geographic unit of analysis; a discussion of mapping efforts by the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police Department; and an introduction to Global Positioning System (GPS) technology.
Volume 1 Issue 1 Winter 1999 -- This inaugural issue of the Crime Mapping News covers a broad range of topics. The articles in this issue detail how computerized crime mapping can help problem-oriented policing; an effort by the Lansing, Michigan Police Department to create a decentralized GIS application for use by department personnel; and a discussion of GIS and the year 2000 conversion.