In recent years, the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to map crime within law enforcement and emergency service departments has become essential for them to become more transparent.
Historically, law enforcement agencies depended on hard-copy maps to chart criminal activity. However, they were static, and as crime rates increased, they became difficult to manage, leading to discrepancies in data. To resolve this, law enforcement agencies and other emergency teams have been encouraged to adopt digital mapping to manage and publish incidents in real-time.
To become more transparent, law enforcement agencies have turned to GIS to sort, organise, analyse and disseminate their data. Using GIS to map crime type, location, outcome, and crime ID, agencies are eliminating the need to duplicate tasks while becoming more transparent in the sharing of information between other departments and external stakeholders.
By using GIS, law enforcement agencies can present data on a map using points, lines and polygons. In addition, they can present data as a heat or thematic map to highlight crime hotspots. GIS provides law enforcement and emergency response units with the tools to capture, store, integrate and manipulate various layers of data, allowing users to analyse data in a spatial environment.
One of the key advantages of using GIS for law enforcement and emergency response departments is the ability to display feature information on a base layer, such as OSM, Google, Bing, Here, or other.
The real power of GIS is that it provides users with an opportunity to visualise and analyse multiple layers of information on a single map. Administrators can create additional layers, integrate disparate datasets from multiple sources, such as planning, fire, ambulance, and police departments, as well as data from utilities and the road network.
The key benefit of an integrated approach is that it creates a centralised repository for all spatial data, which can then be analysed to implement any remedial action.
Another example of how GIS is helping law enforcement and other emergency response teams is that it provides them with the tools to carry out spatial searches.
Using the spatial search features (buffer, intersects, touches, etc.), administrators can identify relationships between features or locations compared to another, for example, identifying all reported cases of violence or theft within 1,000 meters of a train station based on the time of day. This information can then be used to increase police presence during times of day when crime is more likely to occur, ensuring that local communities feel safe and reducing crime rates.
In addition, due to the ability to share information in real-time, response units on the street can access GIS to make data-driven decisions. This is possible because GIS can track changes over time and can therefore be used to make informed strategic decisions to ensure the safety of local communities.
Ultimately, GIS technology empowers law enforcement and emergency response units to become efficient in the dissemination, management, visualisation and sharing of their spatial data, enabling them to become more accountable to the communities they serve. Explore our reference maps, which showcase reported crimes in London.
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Information source: Office of Justice Programs