Geography of Crime and Geographic Information Systems

Abstract

Short historical overview of criminological theories with a spatial componentMajority of criminological theories are based on researching the offender, the victim or the situation in which a criminal act has been committed and these theories have been developed under the influence of psychological and sociological trends Abstract A link between human geography and criminology has been established as a result of the development of strong parallel that has existed in science for decades, similar to how criminology was predominantly put in the focus of sociology due to the series of paradigm shifts. Cognitive mapping, environmental perception and values and meanings attributed to "place", "space" and "environment" have constructed a framework for interaction between criminology and human geography and for development of geography of crime. Spatial data analysis through geographic information systems is becoming more popular in crime mapping and crime analysis in contemporary police organizations and their usage is limitless. Geographic information system as an analytical instrument is also used for pattern analysis or for analysis of spatial crime distribution model and for researching spatial relations between crime and other demographic and socio-economic factors by using visual representation of spatial data. Along with usual implementation of traditional methods, geographic information systems contribute in directing crime investigations to a certain area of probable locations of residence, other activities and the offender's itinerary. Due to its significant impact on the quality of police work, as well as policy and decision making on operational, tactical and strategic levels, modern police organizations use GIS in their daily work in order to prevent and reduce crime rates.

Application GIS to Analyse Crime Risk in Bandung

“…Geographic Information System (GIS) is a designed system to capture, store, manipulate, analyse, organize and display all types of geographical (geospatial) data of a region data be new information for decision making (Setiawan, 2010). GIS can be used as a tool in analysing and making decision in the security field, especially to mapping and crime analysis (Butorac and Marinović, 2017).…”

Understanding crime using GIS and the context of COVID-19: the case of Saldanha Bay Municipality

“…22 In policing, GIS represents a data management system which stores, processes, analyses and displays spatial data on crime which might include the types of offences, the spatial location where criminal activities were committed, and the offenders and victims of criminal acts. 23 These data are important for collecting, analysing and mapping purposes, because they provide support in decision-making and effective deployment of police and resources to increase protection and safety in the community.…”

“…24 The importance of geographic data in finding and analysing patterns or models of criminal behaviour has been recognised by modern police organisations to prevent and reduce crime rates, benefitting the citizens. 25 Crime analysis can be used not only to enhance an agency's ability to prevent crime or catch criminals, but also to identify crime patterns, forecast future crime occurrences, target profile analyses, and provide support data to crime prevention programmes. 26 The development of affordable GIS and the increasing technological developments within policing (such as the digitisation and geocoding of crime records) have allowed researchers to exploit the wealth of data recorded by police agencies and to map crime.…”

Role of Geospatial Technology in Crime Mapping & Analysis: A Case Study of District Kasur, Punjab, Pakistan

“…GIS is a key tool to deliver the information compulsory to the organizational staff to investigate and make a rapid conclusion by providing the final result with spatial as well as graphic information permitting the law implementation agencies to understand where crimes are occurring, where the high density of the crimes are and where the crime rate is high [5]. GIS can also be utilized as a tool in analyzing & making a decision in the safety field, particularly in crime and mapping analysis [6].…”