NCJ Number
59317
Date Published
1977
Length
23 pages
Annotation
THE OPERATIONAL CRIME ANALYSIS (OCA-1) SYSTEM, DESIGNED TO PROVIDE THE GOVERNMENT WITH RESOURCES NEEDED TO INTERPRET EXISTING INFORMATION AND DATA BASES ON CRIME ANALYSIS, IS SUMMARIZED.
Abstract
THE OCA-1 SYSTEM IS A PACKAGE FOR CRIME ANALYSIS AND GENERAL PLANNING CAPABLE OF MERGING EXISTING DATA BASES AND PERFORMING ANALYSIS, RESEARCH, REPORT GENERATION, AND PROVIDING TACTICAL RECOMMENDATIONS AND RESOURCE ALLOCATION STRATEGIES WHICH FACILITATE CONCISE, TIMELY, AND RELEVANT PLANNING FOR CRIME CONTROL AS WELL AS GENERAL SOCIAL POLICY. TWO OVERRIDING PRINCIPLES HAVE GONE INTO THE CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE SYSTEM: (1) MODULARIZED STRUCTURE, AND (2) PROGRESSIVE REFINEMENT. THE BLOCK SYSTEM FOR THE OCA-1 CONTAINS SIX BASIC MODULES. THE INPUT MODULE CAPTURES DATA FOR THE SYSTEM. THE GEOPROCESSING MODULE ASSIGNS GEO-CODES TO DATA WHICH IS GEOGRAPHICALLY REFERENT. THE DATABASE INTEGRITY MODULE GUARANTEES THE MAINTENANCE AND SECURITY OF THE INFORMATION STORED IN THE OCA DATABASE, WHILE THE AGGREGATION OR EXTRACTION MODULE RETRIEVES DATA FOR ANALYSIS. THE MOST DYNAMIC ASPECT OF THE SYSTEM IS THE ANALYSIS MODULE, THE SYSTEM POINT WHERE ACTUAL ANALYSIS IS PROCESSED. THIS MODULE CONTAINS TWO BASIC SOFTWARE CONCEPTS: INHERENT ANALYSIS SOFTWARE AND EXTERNAL LINKAGE TO EXTERNAL ANALYSIS SOFTWARE. INHERENT ANALYSIS SOFTWARE EXPLICITLY ANALYZES DATA AND PERFORMS THE KINDS OF ANALYSIS THAT A RESEARCHER OR PLANNER NEEDS. THUS, WITHIN THE OCA-1 DESIGN IS A SERIES OF ANALYSIS ROUTINES TAILORED TO CRIMINAL JUSTICE APPLICATIONS NOT FOUND ELSEWHERE. LINKAGE TO OTHER EXISTING SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED FOR IN THE ANALYSIS MODULE DESIGN. ROUTINES OF THE INTERNAL ANALYSIS SOFTWARE ARE LISTED AND FULLY DETAILED IN THE OCA-1 SYSTEM DESCRIPTION. LASTLY, THE DISPLAY MODULE IS THE PORTION OF THE SYSTEM IN WHICH INFORMATION IS PRESENTED TO THE USER. PROTOTYPES OF THE DISPLAYS ARE APPENDED TO THE SUMMARY WHICH ALSO INCLUDES EXTENSIVE TABULAR DATA. (MJW)