NCJ Number
165619
Editor(s)
M M Reuland
Date Published
1997
Length
150 pages
Annotation
This monograph aims to assist police agencies in establishing and maintaining information management systems to enhance their community policing efforts; the text presents an overview of crime analysis functions and practical examples of how police agencies can use technology to achieve those functions.
Abstract
The information is based on meetings attended by crime analysis experts from five police agencies around the country, staff of the Police Executive Research Forum, and representatives of the Department of Justice's Community Oriented Policing Services Office. The text explains three of the basic functions of crime analysis: the analysis of crime and other incidents to support resource deployment, the identification of crime-suspect correlations to assist investigations, administrative analysis by means of the preparation of reports for government agencies and community groups. It also notes the organizational issues that are significant factors in the success of any crime analysis unit. These include a focus on crime analysis, centralized versus decentralized analysis units, coordination with other agencies, analyst training, and the funding of crime analysis. The stages of crime analysis include data collection, data collation, analysis, dissemination, and feedback. Figures, tables, and appended sample materials