Crime Mapping In Law Enforcement

Crime mapping is a newer tool used in law enforcement to help prevent and control crime. There are many elements of crime mapping and how it is generally used now. Also, there are many careers directly linked with crime mapping. There are many types of software and analysis that crime mapping uses as it was developed over time. Although this is a newer tool in law enforcement and is still being developed, it has become very beneficial to law enforcement. Crime mapping is influencing law enforcement in a huge way.

There are many elements of crime mapping, including the history of it. Crime mapping has been around before computers were even invented or used. Crime mapping started in the 1800’s in Europe by scholars and researchers in cartographic

The U.S. had rarely collected a census and there were no reliable maps (Boba, 2001). The first spectral analysis of crime in the United States was done in the 1920’s and 1930’s by sociologists in Chicago (Boba, 2001). A majority of the crime mapping research and practice was done in Europe and the United States by studying aggravated crime in some areas. During the late 1960 scholars began to study spectral analysis and develop computer systems and methods. (Boba, 2001). Crime mapping began to evolve with the times. Throughout the late 1960’s and into the 1980’s researchers from different parts of the world began to focus on criminal events and its context as opposed to the style of traditional criminology which focused more on the offender. (Boba, 2001). While researchers were changing the way of looking at crime, computer technology was evolving and becoming more available to all

It also analyzes the relationship of the targets and the “hot spots” (Karpilo, 2017). Crime mapping also focuses on the area in which both the victim and perpetrator “lives, works and plays” (Karpilo, 2017). They do this to find comfort zones of perpetrators (Karpilo, 2017). Therefore, this means that crime map learning is done visually (Karpilo, 2017). There are many studies that were done to help develop mapping. All these examples of studies were funded by the National Institute of Justice (Karpilo, 2017). One such study was done by Rutgers University and the New Jersey City Police Department, which tested problem-oriented policing responses. The city of Hartford in Connecticut and Abt Associates (a consulting firm in Boston) also used crime mapping to involve the community with addressing crime problems. California’s San Diego Police Department and Police Executive Research Forum mapped drug offenses as an experiment to evolve crime mapping. Lastly, in Pennsylvania the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police and Carnegie Mellon University developed a system of thematic maps. (Boba, 2001). As projects continued so did the built up of advantages and disadvantages. Some of these advantages include access to large samples of data, relatively low cost and data collection is already paid for. Along with all these advantages come disadvantages such as data quality can vary,