In order to create a detailed report about a crime occurred law enforcement agencies and analysts use crime maps. Mapping crime, using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), allows crime analysts to identify crime hot spots, along with other trends and patterns, help law enforcement administrators to devise strategies, as well as for tactical analysis (e.g. crime forecasting). GIS is also useful for law enforcement operations, such as allocating police officers, identifying fastest route and dispatching to emergencies.
Crime maps also contains datasets of landmarks, Traffic, CCTV and blind spots. and also can overlay other datasets such as census demographics, locations of public buildings, schools, police booth or stations etc., to better understand the underlying causes of crime and also for tactical analysis.
In case of road safety and SOS services these crime maps comprises the data for accident prone zones and analyzing for any pattern in accidents so that any kind of difficulties, potholes or damaged roads can be repaired. By the time of accidents nearby ambulance and tow services will be alerted and fastest routes can also be identified.
Geographic profiling is a criminal investigative methodology that analyzes the locations of a connected series of crimes to determine the most probable area of offender residence. By incorporating both qualitative and quantitative methods, it assists in understanding spatial behaviour of an offender and focusing the investigation to a smaller area of the community. Typically used in cases of serial murder or rape (but also arson, bombing, robbery, terrorism and other crimes), the technique helps police detectives prioritize information in large-scale major crime investigations that often involve hundreds or thousands of suspects and tips.
Crime mapping is used to understand patterns of incarceration and recidivism, help us to target resources and programs, evaluate crime prevention, and further understanding of causes of crime.
The boom of internet technologies, particularly web-based geographic information system (GIS) technologies, is opening new opportunities for use of crime mapping to support crime prevention. Research indicates that the functions provided in web-based crime mapping are less than in most traditional crime mapping software. In conclusion, existing works of web-based crime mapping focus on supporting community policing rather than analytical functions such as pattern analysis and prediction.
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