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Crime analysis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Crime analysis is a law enforcement profession dedicated to identification of, analysis of, and solutions to patterns, trends, and problems in crime and disorder. Crime analysts work for all levels of law enforcement agencies, though in the United States, most are employed by municipal or county police departments. Many crime analysts are civilian professionals; others are police officers appointed to a crime analysis position.
Crime analysts study crime reports, arrests reports, and police calls for service to identify emerging patterns, series, and trends as quickly as possible. They analyze these phenomena for all relevant factors, sometimes predict or forecast future occurrences, and issue bulletins, reports, and alerts to their agencies. They then work with their police agencies to develop effective strategies and tactics to address crime and disorder. Other duties of crime analysts may include preparing statistics, data queries, or maps on demand; analyzing beat and shift configurations; preparing information for community or court presentations; answering questions from the public and the press; and providing data and information support for a police department's CompStat process.
Effective crime analysis employs data mining, crime mapping, statistics, research methods, desktop publishing, charting, presentation skills, critical thinking, and a solid understanding of criminal behavior. In this sense, a crime analyst serves as a combination of an information systems specialist, a statistician, a researcher, a criminologist, a journalist, and a planner for a local police department.
As a profession, crime analysis has existed since at least the 1960s (though some of its most essential functions were probably performed even in ancient times). The earliest known reference is in O.W. Wilson's 1963 edition of Police Administration. At first only present in very large municipal agencies, the profession got a boost in the 1970s under funding supplied by the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA). It was during this decade that the first standardized "manuals" of the profession began to appear. After suffering a dearth of funding in the 1980s, the crime analysis scene changed dramatically in the 1990s with the computer revolution, the existence of new funding under the U.S. Department of Justice's COPS Office, the rise of several professional associations and federally-funded training programs, and the new emphasis within police departments on community policing and problem-oriented policing.
In countries other than the United States, crime analysis is often called "intelligence analysis" or "criminal intelligence analysis," but in the U.S., this term is generally understood to apply to a different law enforcement discipline.
As of 2003, 28% of local governments in the United States use GIS for crime tracking and investigative activities. Most of these jurisdictions include the larger police departments, while smaller jurisdictions (e.g. townships) may have a police force that consists of just a few police officers who do not specialize in crime analysis or any other specific aspect of law enforcement.
A common misconception about a crime analyst's job, is that they go out to crime scenes to investigate; That is the job of a criminalist, to collect forensic evidence, or detective who investigates crimes.
- ↑ Public Technology Inc. (October 2003) National GIS Survey Results: 2003 Survey on the use of GIS Technology in Local Government [2] (PDF)
- Osborne, Deborah and Susan Wernicke (2003) Introduction to Crime Analysis: Basic Resources for Criminal Justice Practice. Haworth Press. ISBN 0-7890-1868-3
