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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
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Results for crime hotspots
24 results foundAuthor: Burgess, Melissa Title: Understanding Crime Hotspot Maps Summary: The distribution of crime across a region is not random. A number of factors influence where crime occurs, including the physical and social characteristics of the place and the people using the place. Crime mapping can show us where the high crime areas are and help to provide an understanding of the factors that affect the distribution and frequency of crime. This knowledge can help improve crime prevention policies and programs. For example, it can help us to anticipate at-risk places, times and people; direct law enforcement resources; allocate victim services; design the most suitable crime prevention strategies; and so forth. This brief provides a description of how the Bureau’s Local Government Area crime hotspot maps are produced and how they should be interpreted. Details: Sydney: NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, 2011. 8p. Source: Internet Resource: Issues Paper No. 60: Accessed May 16, 2011 at: http://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/bocsar/ll_bocsar.nsf/vwFiles/bb60.pdf/$file/bb60.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Australia URL: http://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/bocsar/ll_bocsar.nsf/vwFiles/bb60.pdf/$file/bb60.pdf Shelf Number: 121722 Keywords: Crime AnalysisCrime HotspotsCrime MappingHigh Crime Areas |
Author: Stoner, Sarah Title: Current Global Trends in the Illegal Trade of Tigers Summary: This is a presentation detailing the crime statistics on the illegal international trade of tigers and material from tigers, crime statistics, hotspot analysis and other information. Details: New Delhi, India: World Wide Fund (WWF) & Global Tiger Initiative, 2012. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 22, 2012 at http://www.globaltigerinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/TRAFFIC_Tiger_Trade_Analysis.pdf Year: 2012 Country: International URL: http://www.globaltigerinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/TRAFFIC_Tiger_Trade_Analysis.pdf Shelf Number: 126098 Keywords: Crime AnalysisCrime HotspotsCrime StatisticsIllegal Wildlife TradeOffenses Against the EnvironmentOrganized CrimeTigersWildlife Crime |
Author: Omenya, Alfred Title: Understanding the Tipping Point of Urban Conflict: The Case of Nairobi, Kenya Summary: This research studies the tipping point of urban conflict in Nairobi, Kenya. It employs the concepts of tipping points and violence chains. The research studies various types of conflict and violence at city level through literature and in three of Nairobi’s hotspots: Kawangware, Kibera, and Mukuru settlements, through participatory violence appraisal (PVA). The research shows that the most significant type of violence is political violence. However, cumulatively, other types of violence, namely landlord-tenant, domestic and economic violence, are more significant. Focusing on political violence alone makes other types of violence invisible. The study shows that political violence in Kenya is rooted in colonial times in historical inequity in access to resources, and perpetuated in post-colonial times through the mediation of ethnicity. The study unpacks roles of institutions in tipping conflicts into and out of violence; it shows that an institutional analysis of actors involved in tipping conflict into violence and vice versa is important in preventing violence. It identifies the tipping points at sub-city level and shows the complex ways in which these types of conflict and violence are interlinked through chains. Breaking these violence chains is critical to preventing conflicts tipping into violence. A key way of breaking the chains is improving the overall governance framework. Further the study shows that violence in Nairobi’s sub-city is spatially linked. Thus identification of violence hotspots is critical in dealing with violence; and spatial improvements such as slum upgrading initiatives, taking into consideration hotspots, can go a long way in preventing conflict tipping into violence. Details: Manchester, UK: Urban Tipping Point, University of Manchester, 2012. 68p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper #6: Accessed July 10, 2013 at: http://www.urbantippingpoint.org/documents/Working%20Papers/WP6_Nairobi.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Kenya URL: http://www.urbantippingpoint.org/documents/Working%20Papers/WP6_Nairobi.pdf Shelf Number: 129351 Keywords: Crime HotspotsUrban CrimeViolence (Kenya)Violent Crime |
Author: Gorr, Wilpen L. Title: Longitudinal Study of Crime Hot Spots: Dynamics and Impact on Part 1 Violent Crime Summary: Objectives: Design and estimate the impacts of a prevention program for part 1 violent crimes in micro-place crime hot spots. Methods: A longitudinal study of crime hot spots using 21 years of crime offense report data on part 1 violent crimes from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Based on kernel density smoothing for a definition of micro-place crime hot spots, we replicate past work on the existence of "chronic" hot spots, but then with such hot spots accounted for introduce "temporary" hot spots. Results: Chronic hot spots are good targets for prevention. They are easily identified and they tend to persist. Temporary hot spots, however, predominantly last only one month. Thus the common practice of identifying hot spots using a short time window of crime data and assuming that the resulting hot spots will persist is ineffective for temporary hot spots. Instead it is necessary to forecast the emergence of temporary hot spots to prevent their crimes. Over time chronic hot spots, while still important, have accounted for less crime while temporary hot spots have grown, accounting for a larger share. Chronic hot spots are relatively easy targets for police whereas temporary hot spots require forecasting methods not commonly in use by police. Conclusions: The paper estimates approximately a 10 to 20 percent reduction in part 1 violent crimes in Pittsburgh if the hot spot enforcement program proposed in this paper were implemented. Details: Pittsburgh, PA: H. John III Heinz College, Carnegie Mellon University,, 2012. 29p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper: Accessed October 28, 2013 at: Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.heinz.cmu.edu/research/447full.pdf Shelf Number: 131486 Keywords: Crime AnalysisCrime HotspotsCrime PreventionViolent Crime |
Author: Ratcliffe, Jerry H. Title: Smart Policing Initiative: Final Report Summary: This report documents the experimental results from the Temple University sub-contractual part of the Smart Policing Initiative funding awarded the City of Philadelphia. This project was supported by Grant No. 2009-DG-BX-K021 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The project centered on a randomized field experiment. The study was designed and conducted as part of a continuing research-practitioner partnership with the Philadelphia Police Department. The Police Commissioner and management team were actively involved in the planning of the experiment so that the experimental design would more closely approximate how hot spots policing would occur naturally in a large urban police department. As the Commissioner wrote in the city's crime fighting strategy; In today's economy, we must be smart and judicious about allocating police resources. Saturation patrol is not an informed solution to preventing or reducing a rising crime problem. We must understand what works, how it works, when it works, and where it works. The answers to these questions provide the foundation for "evidence-based" policing strategies. First, violent crime hotspots were delineated using spatial statistics. Violent crime point data were accessed from the city's 2009 incident database. Violent crime was defined as homicide, robbery, aggravated assault and misdemeanor assault. Two different local measures for detecting spatial association and concentration were applied: Local Indicator of Spatial Association (LISA) and Hierarchical Nearest Neighbor Clustering (HNN). Full details of the analysis strategy are found in the chapters that follow. A total of 81 mutually-exclusive target areas were identified, allowing 21 of these to be used as controls. Senior police commanders (District Captains) were asked to use their operational knowledge to delineate the final boundaries of deployment areas and to identify which type of intervention should be applied in each. They were asked to identify 27 areas suitable for foot patrol, 27 areas that would benefit from problem-solving and 27 areas where police would focus enforcement on violent repeat offenders. Police commanders drew deployment areas around the hot spots identified by the LISA and HNN analyses taking into consideration the street network and environmental features. The 81 deployment areas were then displayed on a new map. In subsequent meetings with the Regional Operations Commanders, the deployment areas' boundaries were revised to balance police operations with research priorities (e.g., achieving geographic separation of the target areas to allow for examination of displacement/diffusion effects). The final 81 hot spots were small, containing an average of 3 miles of streets and 23.5 intersections. The 81 hot spot deployment areas were stratified into three groups prior to randomization based on their pretest score on treatment suitability as qualitatively evaluated by police department commanders. Random assignment using a random number generator was performed separately for each stratum of 27 areas resulting in 20 areas being assigned to treatment and 7 to control. The three experimental areas were targeted for at least three months with, problem-oriented policing, offender-focused activity, or foot patrol. The report that follows documents the experimental results of the study, a pre-post survey of officers involved in the experiment, and a pre-post survey of residents in the experimental areas. Details: Philadelphia: Temple University, Center for Security and Crime Science, 2013. 92p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 11, 2014 at: http://webcastium.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Smart-1-final-report-Temple-University.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://webcastium.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Smart-1-final-report-Temple-University.pdf Shelf Number: 132973 Keywords: Crime AnalysisCrime HotspotsFoot PatrolPolice PatrolPolicing InnovationsProblem-Oriented PolicingViolent Crime |
Author: Uittenbogaard, Adriaan Cornelis Title: Clusters of Urban Crime and Safety in Transport Nodes Summary: The objective of the thesis is to provide a better understanding of the safety conditions in urban environments, particularly related to those found in transport nodes, in this case, underground stations, and surrounding areas1. First, the study starts with an analysis of the overall city, identifying concentrations of crime in the urban fabric and then focusing on the criminogenic conditions at and around underground stations. The analysis combines the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS), statistical techniques and data of different types and sources. Regression models were used to assess the importance of the environmental attributes of underground stations on crime rates. Findings show that violent and property crimes show different hotspots at different times. Crime patterns tend to follow people�s scheduled patterns of routine activity. The socio-economic composition of the surrounding environment of the stations has a significant impact on crime at these transport nodes, but more important were attributes of the physical and social environment at the stations. For instance, low guardianship and poor visibility at the stations together with mixed land-uses in the surrounding areas induced crime rates at the stations. It is therefore suggested that intervention to improve safety conditions at the stations should focus on a holistic approach, taking into account the station and surrounding areas, but also being aware of crime variation on specific places at specific times. Details: Stockholm: KTH Royal Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and the Build Environment, Department of Real Estate and Construction Management 2013. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed May 1, 2015 at: http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:603657/FULLTEXT02 Year: 2013 Country: Sweden URL: http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:603657/FULLTEXT02 Shelf Number: 135455 Keywords: Crime Analysis Crime Hotspots Geographical Information Systems (GIS) High Crime Areas Transit Crime Transportation Urban Areas and Crime (Sweden) |
Author: Rydberg, Jason Title: Flint DDACTS Pilot Evaluation Summary: In response to the public safety challenges posed by high levels of violent crime and local level law enforcement resource constraints, the Michigan State Police (MSP) have developed the "Secure Cities" initiative as part of its strategic plan. The Secure Cities initiative involves providing additional MSP enforcement resources to Detroit, Flint, Pontiac and Saginaw; using data-driven planning; and developing evidence-informed and evidence-based strategies for addressing high levels of violent crime. One specific strategy has been the implementation of the Data-Driven Approaches to Crime and Traffic Safety (DDACTS) in Flint. The Flint DDACTS initiative began enforcement activities in January 2012. The current evaluation examined the program as it operated between January 2012 and March 2014. This report presents the findings of the evaluation of the Flint DDACTS program, describing both trends in program activities and the effect of DDACTS on violent crime. Key Findings - The DDACTS strategy targeted five hotspots for violent crime in Flint, later expanded to include two additional hotspot areas. - MSP collected very detailed activity data from the Troopers involved in DDACTS. This reflected exceptional performance output measures. - A significant level of patrol resources with associated activities occurred in these hotspot areas. Indeed, over 22,000 traffic stops occurred between January 1, 2012 and March 2014 as part of the DDACTS initiative. Nearly three-quarters of the traffic stops occurred in the targeted hotspots. This equated to significant enforcement presence in the hotspot areas with over 600 traffic stops occurring each month in the hotspot areas - For every 100 traffic stops, there were nearly 95 verbal warnings, 2 citations, 14 arrests for misdemeanor and felony charges, and 17 fugitive arrests. - The heavy use of verbal warnings appears to reflect concern with maintaining positive relationships with Flint residents. - The high number of arrests per traffic stop reflects a very high level of enforcement productivity. - The initial set of analyses focused on the trend in violent crime in the DDACTS hotspot target areas. Violent crime (homicide, aggravated assaults, robberies, criminal sexual conduct, weapons offenses) declined 19 percent in the hotspot areas. The declines were observed in 14 of the 27 months of the DDACTS initiative. The remainder of the city experienced a 7 percent decline in violent crime. - Robberies declined 30 percent in the hotspot areas. The remainder of the city experienced a 2 percent decline in robberies. - Several analyses were undertaken to test rival explanations for the decline in violent crime. Specifically, "synthetic" comparison areas consisting of block groups within the city that were not subject to the DDACTS initiative were compared to the trend in violent crime in the hotspot areas. The findings indicated that the comparison areas also experienced a decline in violent crime. Details: East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University, School of Criminal Justice, Michigan Justice Statistics Center, 2014. 67p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 16, 2015 at: http://cj.msu.edu/assets/DDACTS-Report-Expanded_BJS_2012_BJ_CX_K036-1-2-FINAL.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://cj.msu.edu/assets/DDACTS-Report-Expanded_BJS_2012_BJ_CX_K036-1-2-FINAL.pdf Shelf Number: 135656 Keywords: Crime AnalysisCrime HotspotsCrime PreventionEvidence-Based PracticesPolice PatrolStop and SearchViolent Crime |
Author: Nan, Jiang Title: A Crime Pattern Analysis of the Illegal Ivory Trade in China Summary: The illegal ivory trade fuels illegal elephant poaching in both Africa and Asia. The illegal ivory trade in China is considered a key threat to the survival of the elephant species: since 2009, China has become the largest illegal ivory market in the world. Although China has uncovered a great number of cases of illegal ivory trade with the seizure of illegal ivory in the past decade, this trade is still growing. A deeper understanding of the nature and patterns of illegal ivory trade through an analysis of ivory seizure data should improve the efficiency of efforts to prevent the illegal ivory trade in China. This paper analyses data on 106 seizures of illegal ivory that was collected from Chinese news reports between 1999 and 2014, with a particular focus on its frequency and illegal trade 'hotspot' locations in China. The analysis found three illegal ivory trade cycles (2001-2005, 2006-2010, and 2011-2014) and four hotspots. Preventing the illegal ivory trade will require more international cooperation and coordination between China and other countries. Details: Acton, ACT, AUS: Transnational Environmental Crime Project, Australian National University, 2015. 17p. Source: Internet Research: TEC Project Working Paper 1/2015: Accessed October 19, 2015 at: http://ips.cap.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/IPS/IR/TEC/TEC%20Working%20Paper%201-2015.pdf Year: 2015 Country: China URL: http://ips.cap.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/IPS/IR/TEC/TEC%20Working%20Paper%201-2015.pdf Shelf Number: 136999 Keywords: Animal PoachingCrime AnalysisCrime HotspotsElephantsIllegal TradeIvoryWildlife CrimeWildlife Trade |
Author: Harrell, Kim Title: The Predictive Accuracy of Hotspot Mapping of Robbery over Time and Space Summary: Police forces use hotspot mapping to provide a targeted approach to resource allocation, ensuring police officers are despatched to areas of high crime where their presence will have the most impact. Hotspot intelligence products are reliant on crime data sourced from police databases, and positional errors in this data will have an impact on the accuracy of the hotspot maps produced. The location of crime hotspots varies across both space and time. Despite this the use of temporal information is still rare because of the difficulties in pinpointing crime to an exact point in time, though crimes involving attended property provide the opportunity to record time more accurately. This research aimed to evaluate both the impact positional errors and the addition of temporal information have on the predictive accuracy of hotspot mapping of crime that inherently occurs in outdoor or public places through the utilisation of robbery data. Using robbery data recorded during a 24 month period (1st April 2011 - 31st March 2013) in the West Midlands Police Local Policing Unit of Birmingham South, the number and magnitude of positional errors present in the raw data was measured based on the Euclidean distance between recorded and actual locations of robbery offences. Positional errors ranging between 1 - 3766 metres were responsible for the suppression of a number of high intensity hotspots in the study area, and only 31% of all robberies had been allocated to the correct geographical location. To determine the influence of temporal information a mid-point measurement date was employed, and the ability of the retrospective robbery hotspots to predict the location of prospective robbery events measured, based on police shift periods, days of the week and spatial data alone. The results suggest that shift periods provide the best prospect for police forces utilising temporal information to improve the predictive ability of hotspot maps. Care needs to be taken to select a large enough dataset that will ensure sufficient clustering of crime points, and further research could be extended to incorporate different crime types. Details: Manchester, UK: University of Salford, Manchester, 2014. 159p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed November 14, 2015 Year: 2014 Country: United Kingdom URL: Shelf Number: 137769 Keywords: Crime AnalysisCrime ClustersCrime ForecastingCrime HotspotsCrime MappingRobbery |
Author: Lammy, David Title: Low Crime for All: How to reduce crime for London's communities Summary: In a new report for Policy Exchange's London-focused research unit - the Capital City Foundation - Rt Hon David Lammy, Member of Parliament for Tottenham, and candidate in the Primary to be the Labour Party's nominee for the London Mayoral Election, makes the case for higher visibility, more targeted policing in London. In Low Crime for All: How to reduce crime for London's Communities, Lammy makes three key points about crime in London: 1.We need a more visible Police force. The Police must radically improve their visibility in those parts of the capital where crime is highest. Lammy calls for an additional 2,400 Police (1,400 additional constables and 1,000 community support officers) to combat crime in London. The report highlights official figures which show that just 1 in 10 of Metropolitan Police officers are "visible and available" to the public at any one time, the 39th lowest score of the 43 forces in England and Wales. While it is not possible for all Police Officers to be visible and available at any one time there is scope to increase this score. 2.High crime disproportionately hurts the most vulnerable. While crime has declined since it peaked in 1995, this has not occurred equally among all geographic areas and socio-economic groups. Crime is increasingly concentrated in more deprived areas and particularly affects those on low incomes. In London, residents of the 100 wards with the highest proportion of social housing suffer more than twice as much crime as residents of the 100 wards with the least social housing. 3.High rates of crime should not be accepted - crime can be reduced further. The Mayor of London should replicate the sort of approach to fighting crime adopted in New York City, where supposedly 'low level' offences were policed proactively to challenge the culture of criminality and antisocial behaviour. The report makes thirteen recommendations to address crime in London: 1.The Metropolitan Police should increase the percentage of "visible and available" officers. Foot patrols are an important tool in fighting crime. 2.As part of encouraging foot patrols, the Mayor of London should look closely at Metropolitan Police spending on Police cars, and, perhaps, sell some existing vehicles to reinvest in other means of crime prevention. 3.The Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime should attempt randomised controlled trials around London to gather evidence on which policing methods work best. 4.More Police resources should be directly invested in crime hotspots, particularly those areas recently victimised. 5.The Mayor of London should replicate the "Compstat" model in New York. At least once a fortnight, senior officers should go through crime statistics and hold borough commanders to account for any increase in crime rates or decrease in Police effectiveness. 6.The Mayor of London, Transport for London and MOPAC should sustain a particular focus on crime on public transport. 7.London local authorities should insist that new home developments incorporate "designing out crime" principles as part of the planning process. 8.The Mayor of London's environmental team should put the "greening of London" at its core, with a view to placing trees, bushes and hedges in the way of known areas of criminal activity. 9.Tenants should have the right to request that their landlord install WIDE - Window locks, Internal lights on a timer, Deadlocks or Double door locks and External lights activated by a motion sensor - target hardening measures in their home. Landlords should be obliged to do this following any tenant's victimisation. 10.The Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime could trial investing some of its budget in crime prevention by directly funding WIDE installation in the areas most consistently burgled as one of the randomised controlled trials mentioned in recommendation three. 11.As part of MOPAC's randomised controlled trials, the Metropolitan Police should roll out new technologies in some of the highest crime areas, comparing the results to areas of similar crime rates. The deployment of Smartwater shows how this can work in practice. 12.The Mayor of London should work to ensure social housing providers offer optional and low cost home contents insurance to their tenants. 13.The Metropolitan Police should offer subsidised housing in land it owns for rent or purchase by officers to encourage them to live in London. Details: London: Policy Exchange, 2015. 31p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed march 5, 2016 at: http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/images/publications/low%20crime%20for%20all%20-%20how%20to%20reduce%20crime%20fo%20londons%20communities.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/images/publications/low%20crime%20for%20all%20-%20how%20to%20reduce%20crime%20fo%20londons%20communities.pdf Shelf Number: 138107 Keywords: Communities and CrimeCrime HotspotsFoot PatrolsHotspots PolicingTargeting PolicingUrban Areas and Crime |
Author: Prairie Sky Consulting Title: North Central Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) Final Report Summary: The North Central Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) project is a partnership with the City of Regina, the North Central Community Society, the Public School Board, Regina Police Service, and North Central residents. The project funding is provided by the City, with volunteer services and in-kind services from the partners, and overseen by a steering committee. Prairie Sky Consulting coordinated the safety audits with volunteers, entered and analyzed the data, and compiled this report. CPTED - pronounced sep-ted - is a tool that deals with the design, planning and structure of cities and neighbourhoods. CPTED brings together local residents to examine how an area's physical features, such as lighting, trees and roadways, can influence crime and the opportunities for committing crime. It has been successfully applied in a number of Canadian cities and contexts. North Central, located northwest of the city's downtown, is home to 6% of Regina's population. Overall, the population tends to be younger than the rest of Regina. It is ethnically diverse, with 35% aboriginal. The housing consists of older homes, most built in the first half of the 20th century. Property values are the lowest in the city. About half the residents are renters. Although the area is sometimes singled for crime and social problems, some residents feel it is unfairly stigmatized. Many speak with pride about the neighbourhood they call home. The project collected data in two ways. Safety audits, designed much like surveys, provided quantitative data for streets, parks and alleys. These were completed by about 40 residents - a thorough mix by age, gender and ethnicity - who volunteered for the CPTED process. Additional data was included from focus group discussions with the auditors, data on service calls to the City, and Regina Police Service statistics on "hot spots" in the area. The audits are a snapshot of people's impressions, at a specific date and time, of a certain street, alley or park. What they see and record can vary between auditors and may differ from the experiences of residents who live on a street or next to a particular park. Details: Calgary: Prairie Sky Consulting, 2004. 86p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 15, 2016 at: http://www.regina.ca/opencms/export/sites/regina.ca/residents/social-grants-programs/.media/pdf/north_central_cpted_project_report.pdf Year: 2004 Country: Canada URL: http://www.regina.ca/opencms/export/sites/regina.ca/residents/social-grants-programs/.media/pdf/north_central_cpted_project_report.pdf Shelf Number: 140761 Keywords: CPTEDCrime HotspotsCrime PreventionDesign Against CrimeHigh Crime AreasNeighborhoods and Crime |
Author: Heim, Krista Title: Visualization and Modeling for Crime Data Indexed by Road Segments Summary: This research develops crime hotspot analysis and visualization methodology that use street segments as the basic study unit. This incorporates the distance between points along a polyline rather than the standard Euclidean distance and has some distinct advantages over past methods. For each crime, this method creates a weight according to its distance from each road segment of its surrounding block. To create the hotspot visualization map, crime counts are smoothed over road segments based on the distance to nearest segments and the angle at which nearest roads meet at intersections. Crime data from the City of Alexandria, VA Police Department and San Francisco, CA (available at data.sfgov.org) are considered here using a combination of conventional ArcGIS and R graphics. I assume that demographic variables related to crime in large areas are still relevant to crime rates at the local level and seek to make use of the most spatially detailed data accessible. Decennial demographic variables at the block level for 2010 from the U.S. Census are associated with road segments by assigning the available values to the surrounding segments of each block. These variables include age, gender, population, and housing for both locations. Variables also considered are police calls for service, housing prices, elevation and speed limits. I discuss/compare area crime counts with polyline crime counts using (zero-inflated) Poisson and Negative Binomial regression with crime-related covariates, as well as MCMC Poisson-Gamma Conditional Autoregressive (CAR) model in CrimeStat IV and a localized CAR model in R using distances between segments as weights. Conditional variable importance is measured using conditional random forest modeling to see which of the covariates are the most important predictors of crime and to decide which variables are the most appropriate to consider for visualization. Principal components are also used to create independent linear combinations of predictor variables. While most visualization approaches for street segments have emphasized one variable at a time, this research uses a 3 x 3 grid of maps using DPnet to highlight each grouping of road segments associated with classes based on two covariates. This multivariate visualization will allow us to explore multiple variables at a time and their patterns along a road network. Details: Fairfax, VA: George Mason University, 2014. 164p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed December 20, 2016 at: http://digilib.gmu.edu/jspui/bitstream/handle/1920/8991/Heim_gmu_0883E_10696.pdf?sequence=1 Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://digilib.gmu.edu/jspui/bitstream/handle/1920/8991/Heim_gmu_0883E_10696.pdf?sequence=1 Shelf Number: 147789 Keywords: Crime AnalysisCrime HotspotsGeographic Analysis Geographic Studies High Crime Areas |
Author: Sandkvist, Elin Title: The occurrence of diffusion of benefits. A systematic review of the circumstances behind a hot spot policing effect. Summary: Throughout the years it has been suggested that some places attract crime more than others. Those places are called hot spots of crime and the knowledge of them have contributed to the emergence of hot spot and targeted policing interventions. Hot spot policing is often discussed together with effects such as displacement of crime and diffusion of benefits. Through a systematic review of earlier studies that report or examine a hot spot policing effort or experiment this thesis aims to investigate the circumstances behind diffusion of benefits. No apparent commonalties or correlations are found between the different types of interventions regarding when diffusion of benefits occur. It can be concluded that the phenomenon is very complex. The results are analyzed and understood with the help of routine activity theory and rational choice theory. This thesis adds to the body of evidence that more studies with diffusion of benefits in focus need to be conducted. By understanding when, where and why diffusion of benefits occur the knowledge of crime prevention increases and also increases the knowledge of how to design the interventions to reach the best preventive gains. Details: Malmo: Malmö högskola/Hälsa och samhälle, 2013. 35p. Source: Internet Resource: Master's Essay: Accessed February 4, 2017 at: https://dspace.mah.se/bitstream/handle/2043/16100/Magisteruppsats%20Elin%20Sandkvist%20final%20version.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y Year: 2013 Country: Sweden URL: https://dspace.mah.se/bitstream/handle/2043/16100/Magisteruppsats%20Elin%20Sandkvist%20final%20version.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y Shelf Number: 145874 Keywords: Crime HotspotsCrime preventionDiffusion of benefitsDisplacement of crimeHot spot policingPlace-based intervention |
Author: Moestue, Helen Title: "When Kids Call the Shots": Testing a Child Security Index in Recife, Brazil Summary: The Child Security Index (CSI) is a comprehensive assessment of children's perception of everyday violence. It consists of a digital survey that registers their fears, hopes, thoughts, beliefs and day-to-day experiences. The CSI is an open source application and online dashboard that spatially and temporally maps survey-collected data. The CSI was designed to identify the views of children between 8 and 12 years old, and for younger children through the use of adult proxy informants. It offers a platform to facilitate children's participation in understanding how they experience insecurity. The goal is to shine a light on the scale of the problem in low-income settings. This Strategic Paper describes the first pilot study of the Child Security Index (CSI) and its usage as an open source application to capture children's perceptions on violence. The app was tested in hot spot neighborhoods in Recife, capital city of Pernambuco state in Brazil. The survey collected data showed that the gender and age of respondents were more important explanatory factors than location. Younger children in particular reported lower levels of insecurity in comparison to adolescents and adults. Gender-based differences regarding perceived levels of insecurity in certain spaces, especially public venues, were also noted among teens, with girls expressing more fear of outside spaces than boys. The experience in Recife demonstrated that the CSI as a digital survey app can be used as a rapid security assessment technology which can also be adapted to other research questions and contexts. Details: Rio de Janeiro: Igarapé Institute. 2015. 26p. Source: Internet Resource: Strategic Paper 18: Accessed March 4, 2017 at: https://igarape.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/AE-18_CSI-Recife_EN-27-11_2.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Brazil URL: https://igarape.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/AE-18_CSI-Recife_EN-27-11_2.pdf Shelf Number: 141326 Keywords: Children and ViolenceCrime HotspotsFear of CrimeViolence |
Author: de Brito, Charlotte Title: Will Providing Tracking Feedback on Hot Spot Patrols Affect the Amount of Patrol Dosage Delivered? A Level 4 Experiment Summary: Objectives Hot spots patrol is a police tactic shown time and time again to reduce crime, with a robust body of supporting evidence suggested. Less widely researched is how to ensure the police tasked with carrying out these patrols do as they have been asked. In this thesis, research will be presented which seeks to bridge this gap. Methods In a before-after experiment carried out over 4 weeks in August 2016 within British Transport Police (BTP), two sites assigned to treatment conditions (London Waterloo and London Euston) were provided feedback on dosage delivery - i.e., weekly reports showing the number of "hot spots visits" carried out the previous week by the PCs and PCSOs assigned to hot spot patrol. Two sites assigned to control conditions received no such information, but were still required to conduct hot spots patrols as business as usual. Results No overall statistically significant differences in terms of patrol dosage between the two treatment and two control sites were found, indicating that feedback in the form of a set of figures and graphs on the previous weeks' performance sent via email does not increase dosage. However, when the 2 treatment sites were analysed separately, substantial increases were found in patrol dosage at London Waterloo but no discernible effect at London Euston, compared to control conditions. These subgroup analyses are likely to be driven by varying leadership styles in the two treatment sites. Conclusions Patrol dosage feedback can be positively correlated with patrol dosage, however only when the leader responsible for those individuals is willing to act. In this experiment, there was no adverse consequence for poor patrol performance in the treatment sites, hence the threat can be deemed 'toothless'. Onus cannot be left on individuals to react to and improve on poor performance, and a feedback loop must be put in place to allow corrective action to be taken if an individual consistently fails to improve. Further research is recommended, testing treatment conditions which include an adverse consequence of poor performance, with a larger number of experimental sites. Details: Cambridge, UK: Fitzwilliam College, 2016. 75p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed April 10, 2017 at: http://www.crim.cam.ac.uk/alumni/theses/Charlotte%20de%20Brito.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.crim.cam.ac.uk/alumni/theses/Charlotte%20de%20Brito.pdf Shelf Number: 144773 Keywords: Crime AnalysisCrime HotspotsHigh Crime AreasHotspotsPolice Patrol |
Author: Wu, Xiaoyun Title: Do Police Go to Places with More Crime? A Spatial and Temporal Examination of Police Proactivity Summary: Over the last four decades, research has shown that police officers can reduce and prevent crime when they employ proactive, problem-solving, and place-based strategies. However, whether this research has translated into daily police activity is seldom examined. Are police being proactive when not answering calls for service? Do they target that proactivity in places that need it the most? Using calls for service data in a progressive police agency, the authors examine both the spatial and temporal relationship between proactive activity by officers and concentrations of crime using multiple methods, including Andresen's Spatial Point Pattern Test. Results suggest that police in Jacksonville are highly proactive, place-based, and micro-scaled in allocating their resource. They spent a large proportion of their resources conducting proactive work in accordance with the spatial distribution of crime, and they specifically concentrated significant proactive resources in the most crime-ridden areas, making the relationship an increasing curvilinear one between police proactive work and crime at places. More specifically, each crime at a micro place is related to around 40 additional minutes of police proactive work there, the figure of which becomes even higher at places with high enough crime. Details: Fairfax, VA: George Mason University, 2014. 76p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed April 12, 2017 at: http://digilib.gmu.edu/jspui/bitstream/handle/1920/10502/Wu_thesis_2015.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://digilib.gmu.edu/jspui/bitstream/handle/1920/10502/Wu_thesis_2015.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Shelf Number: 144818 Keywords: Crime and PlaceCrime HotspotsHigh Crime AreasPolice Effectiveness |
Author: Ingram, Matthew C. Title: Targeting Violence Reduction in Brazil: Policy Implications from a Spatial Analysis of Homicide Summary: Violence in Latin America generates heavy economic, social and political costs for individuals, communities and societies. A particularly pernicious effect of violence is that it undermines citizen confidence in democracy and in their own government. Responding to public fear, politicians across the region have hastily adopted a wide range of policy responses to violence, ranging from militarizing public security, to 'mano dura' crack downs, to negotiating truces with organized crime, to decriminalizing illicit economic activity. Although many of these policies are politically expedient, few are based on evidence of how public policy actually affects rates of violence. By contrast, this paper examines how violence clusters within a country-Brazil-to study how public policies affect homicide rates and how these policies might be further tailored geographically to have greater impact. Brazil provides a particularly useful case for examining the effectiveness of violence-reduction strategies because of the availability of comparable data collected systematically across 5562 municipal units. This allows for an explicitly spatial approach to examining geographic patterns of violence-how violence in one municipality is related to violence in neighboring municipalities, and how predictors of violence are also conditioned by geography. The key added value of the spatial perspective is that it addresses the dependent structure of the data, accounting for the fact that units of analysis (here, municipalities) are connected to each other geographically. In this way, the spatial perspective accounts for the fact that what happens in nearby units may have a meaningful impact on the outcome of interest in a home, focal unit. Thus, the spatial approach is better able to examine compelling phenomena like the spread of violence across units. We visualize data on six types of homicide-aggregate homicides, homicides of men, homicides of women (i.e., "femicides"), firearm-related homicides, youth homicides (ages 15-29) and homicides of victims identified by race as either black or brown (mulatto), i.e., non-white victims-all for 2011, presenting these data in maps. We adopt a municipal level of analysis, and include homicide data from 2011 for the entire country, i.e., on all 5562 municipalities across 27 states (including the Federal District). This allows us to develop maps that identify specific municipalities that constitute cores of statistically significant clusters of violence for each type of homicide. These clusters offer a useful tool for targeting policies aimed at reducing violence. We then develop an analysis based on a spatial regression model, using predictors from the 2010 census and other official sources in Brazil. This paper finds that areas with higher rates of marginalization and of households headed by women who also work and have young children experience higher rates of homicide, which suggests increased support for policies aimed at reducing both marginalization and family disruption. More specifically, the paper finds that policies that expand local coverage of the Bolsa Familia poverty reduction program and reduce the environmental footprint of large, industrial development projects tend to reduce homicide rates, but primarily for certain types of homicide. Thus, violence-reduction policies need to be targeted by type of violence. In addition, the spatial analysis presented in the paper suggests that violence-reduction policies should be targeted regionally rather than at individual communities - informed by the cluster analysis and the spatial regression. Finally, this paper argues that policies aimed at femicides, gun-related homicides, youth homicides and homicides of non-whites should be especially sensitive to geographic patterns, and be built around territorially-targeted policies over and above national policies aimed at homicide more generally. Details: Washington, DC: Latin America Initiative Foreign Policy at BROOKINGS, 2014. 18p. Source: Internet Resource: Policy Brief: Accessed April 28, 2017 at: https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Ingram-Policy-Brief.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Brazil URL: https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Ingram-Policy-Brief.pdf Shelf Number: 145192 Keywords: Crime AnalysisCrime ClustersCrime HotspotsFemicidesGun-Related ViolenceHomicidesViolenceViolence PreventionViolent Crime |
Author: Santos, Roberto Title: A Quasi-Experimental Test and Examination of Police Effectiveness in Residential Burglary and Theft from Vehicle Micro-Time Hot Spots Summary: This dissertation tested, through a quasi-experimental design, whether traditional policing strategies are effective in preventing residential burglary and theft from vehicle. A new unit of analysis is examined called micro-time hot spots which are clusters of crime incidents (i.e., crime flare-ups) that occur in micro-time at micro-places. Five years of data from a large police department in the Eastern Florida metropolitan region of the United States were examined. The data were gleaned from crime analysis bulletins as well as the department's intranet system that tracked all police responses to micro-time hot spots. In the quasi-experiment, residential burglary and theft from vehicle were examined separately. The treatment and comparison groups were selected using a robust propensity score matching method. Logistic regression was used to compute the propensity scores which were subsequently matched through greedy 1 to 1 matching, without replacement, and with calipers of .05 and .10 of the standard deviation of the logit for residential burglary and theft from vehicle, respectively. Cases that fell outside the region of support were eliminated. The analysis resulted in 140 pairs - 54 residential burglary and 86 theft from vehicle. Tests of means showed that for both residential burglary and theft from vehicle, separately, there was a significant reduction in crime (p < .001). The reduction in residential burglary was 20.76 percent, for theft from vehicle, 19.65 percent, and for both together, 20.0 percent. An examination of spatial displacement of crime found that there was no spatial displacement in micro-time hot spots that received response. The multivariate analysis of the 140 micro-time hot spots with police response showed that the amount of police response and the quickness of response were significant (p < .001). The more police response and the more quickly the response was implemented, the less crime in the micro-time hot spot. Consequently, this study showed that increased police presence in micro-places of emerging concentrations of crime can lead to significant reductions in residential burglary and theft from vehicle without spatial displacement. These findings have direct implications for police practice, in that to be more effective in crime reduction, police organizations should consider responding to residential burglary and theft from vehicle hot spots of shorter temporal scales. Details: Fort Lauderdale, FL: Nova Southeastern University, 2013. 250p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed October 27, 2017 at: https://search.proquest.com/docview/1466031463?pq-origsite=gscholar Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: https://search.proquest.com/docview/1466031463?pq-origsite=gscholar Shelf Number: 147840 Keywords: Crime AnalysisCrime Hotspots Police EffectivenessPolice ResponseResidential BurglaryTheft from Vehicle |
Author: Fabusuyi, Tayo Title: East Liberty Crime Data Analysis Summary: Within a span of five years, 2008 to 2012, overall crime in the residential area of East Liberty has decreased by 49%, and residential property prices have doubled. These developments occurred in an environment where the median income stagnated and actually declined in real terms and where there was minimal change in the racial composition of the neighborhood. This crime reduction is significantly greater than what occurred in the City of Pittsburgh during that period, and is also larger than that observed for comparable neighborhoods in close proximity to East Liberty. A series of questions prompted by these developments are what informed this study. Numeritics, a Pittsburgh-based consulting practice, was approached by the real estate arm of East Liberty Development Incorporated (ELDI), to examine the linkages between these developments and ELDI initiatives. Numeritics was tasked with providing plausible reasons that explain these developments; examining the degree to which ELDI was responsible for them and documenting the process by which these outcomes were achieved while providing some formalism on the process. ELDI staff who live in or around East Liberty came to the realization that crime is a real estate problem and therefore requires a real estate solution. In their experience, most of the criminal activity emanated from or around nuisance properties typically owned by slumlords, an observation buttressed by existing "hot spot" literature on crime that shows that 3% of addresses are responsible for 50% of all service calls to the police. This prompted the decision to embark on targeted acquisition of these properties at scale - a strategy reminiscent of the hot spot theory. Decisions on which properties to target came out of a combination of approaches. Using a "boots on the ground" approach, ELDI staffers became intimately involved in the neighborhood. They listened to complaints from neighbors, talked to the police and examined crime statistics. As a result of this process, East liberty "hot spots" were identified, most of which were either slumlord or abandoned properties. These properties were then targeted for acquisition by ELDI. In total, more than 200 units were purchased, representing 3% of the total rental housing units within the neighborhood. Post-acquisition, effective property managers were put in place to regulate the conduct of the properties and to function as place-owners. This strategy of property acquisition and management was strengthened by a number of complementary initiatives that helped to increase neighborhood cohesiveness. Beginning in 1997, ELDI has been highly conscious of involving neighborhood residents in the planning, decisionmaking and redevelopment process. These efforts allowed for the rebuilding of neighborhood cohesion and trust; what some call "collective efficacy"; the willingness of neighbors to intervene on behalf of the common good. This side effect in turn increases informal social controls; or neighbors looking out for each other, with the result being a positive effect on crime rates. Details: Pittsburgh, PA: Numeritics, 2013. 23p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 8, 2018 at: http://helppgh.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Report_of_the_ELDI_Crime_Study.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://helppgh.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Report_of_the_ELDI_Crime_Study.pdf Shelf Number: 149026 Keywords: Collective EfficacyCrime AnalysisCrime HotspotsHotspotsHousing and CrimeNeighborhoods and CrimeResidential Areas and Crime |
Author: Steinberg, Jonny Title: Sector Policing on the West Rand: Three Case Studies Summary: In December 2003 SAPS National Commissioner Jackie Selebi issued a Draft National Instruction on sector policing. This monograph examines how sector policing has been interpreted and implemented on the West Rand. Sectors in the three station precincts are studied - Randfontein, Roodepoort and Kagiso. Sector policing - international and domestic context Sector policing emerged in the early 1970s as one among a host of experiments to address a crisis in American policing. Police leaders and scholars had gone right back to basics and asked what it is that the police do to reduce crime. The endeavour to answer this question has produced a host of policing innovations in the last 30 years. These innovations can be divided into four categories: 1) hotspot or targeted patrolling, 2) controlling risk factors, 3) problem-oriented policing (POP), and 4) community policing (COP). Sector policing is an eclectic composite. It includes COP and POP as its core, definitional components, but it usually includes targeted patrolling and risk factor identification as well. COP is a form of policing that mobilises civilians into crime prevention projects. It has been successful when trained on specific problems. POP borrows from the philosophy of public health interventions and applies it to policing. It 'vaccinates' an area against micro-crime patterns by identifying and managing their causes. The form sector policing takes is shaped in no small part by the host policing culture that receives it. In recent years, South African policing has been characterised by a strong, active national centre, and uneven policing on the ground. The SAPS has come increasingly to rely on high density, high visibility paramilitary policing operations - precisely the sort of policing that a force with a strong centre and weak personnel can execute with accomplishment. Sector policing has been billed as a project to transcend these limitations - to restore grassroots policing. Details: Pretoria: Institute for Security Studies, 2004. 65p. Source: Internet Resource: ISS Monograph No. 110: Accessed April 4, 2018 at: https://oldsite.issafrica.org/uploads/Mono110.pdf Year: 2004 Country: South Africa URL: https://oldsite.issafrica.org/uploads/Mono110.pdf Shelf Number: 149685 Keywords: Community PolicingCrime AnalysisCrime and PlaceCrime HotspotsPolicingProblem-Oriented Policing |
Author: Doob, Anthony N. Title: Understanding the Impact of Police Stops Summary: Imagine that technology existed such that the police could, electronically, identify and track everyone and every motor vehicle in the city and that this information were stored electronically and available to the police, as required, for solving crime. Even if such information was not admissible as evidence, one could easily see its possible value in solving crime. If a home were broken into, one only would have to search a data base to find out who had been in the neighbourhood. If a pedestrian were hit by a car that did not remain at the scene of the accident, one would only need to see what vehicles had been at that scene around the time of the accident to narrow down the possible suspects considerably. If a person were found to be using or in possession of drugs, one would only need to see whom that person had been in close contact with in recent times to identify a fairly small group of suspects as the source of those drugs. If a person were thought to be a member of a gang, it would be easy to find out whom that person associated with on a regular basis. We don't live in such a society. Obviously the information that the police have about the non-criminal activities of ordinary citizens is much more limited than that described in the previous paragraph. But what if it turned out we did live in the world described in the previous paragraph and people suddenly expressed the desire no longer to live in a world with constant and complete police scrutiny of their ordinary activities? One could imagine the suggestion would be made that not allowing police the kind of surveillance described in the previous paragraph would limit their ability to solve crime. We raise this hypothetical scenario for a particular reason: There is no point in arguing whether complete or highly detailed information about the day-to-day movements or meetings that Canadians have might be useful to the police in solving crime. At a more mundane level, we see on an almost daily basis that footage from 'security' cameras is now routinely used to solve crime in a manner not too different from that described above. Our second example comes closer to the issue of police stops. Imagine that there were no controls whatsoever on the power of the police to stop pedestrians and motorists and ask them to identify themselves. Even if, in law, citizens were not required to identify themselves or to answer any questions, one could argue that maintaining whatever information was obtained could be useful if a crime took place in that neighbourhood or someone associated with the person who had been stopped was suspected of some wrongdoing. That this information could potentially be useful is not the point. The question that needs to be raised in both of these examples is a much more complex one: What might be the 'costs' and 'benefits' to society of these kinds of data gathering programs? Even these two hypothetical scenarios are missing something crucial: comparison groups. The question, in most public policy areas, is not whether there are some successful outcomes from a particular procedure, but whether there are better outcomes overall than there might be under some other procedure. For example, in each of the hypothetical scenarios described above, it might be that deployment of resources in some quite different way or a decision to address some quite different problem would serve the community better than the scenarios described. Or such procedures as described earlier might help solve crime but would lessen cooperation with the police on important matters. Comparison groups or procedures typically are not employed adequately when assessing possible policy choices, but in reality the need for a 'comparison' is usually important. In a discussion about police equipment (e.g., body worn cameras), not only might one want to know whether they affect police or citizen behaviour (implying a comparison with how police or citizens behave without the device), but a serious policy analysis should include an analysis of alternative uses of the resources that would be required for the purchase and use of the devices. An example of the inappropriate use of implied comparisons is when changes in police strength or police tactics are implemented after an unusual (e.g., serious, violent) incident. When police, understandably, change their approach to policing a neighbourhood that experienced an unusual incident or high concentration of serious incidents, they sometimes infer that any subsequent return to 'normal' levels of crime is 'caused' by changes they made in their presence in the neighbourhood. Without adequate comparison areas (e.g., areas that experienced a 'spike' that did not result in changes in policing), such causal inferences simply aren't defensible. The issues become more complex when one moves closer to reality. One fact about crime that noone questions is that it is not evenly (or even randomly) distributed across people, groups of people, or neighbourhoods in our society. Young males, for example, are disproportionately more likely to be involved in a variety of different kinds of crime than other people. People who live in certain kinds of neighbourhoods are more likely to commit offences than people in other neighbourhoods. But some neighbourhoods themselves appear to have characteristics that make them more likely to be the sites for crime above and beyond the characteristics of the individuals who live in them. In this context, a policing perspective that did not consider any other concerns could justify focusing surveillance resources on certain neighbourhoods or types of people (e.g., young males). The problem is that there almost always are other concerns, and concerns that could easily have the effect of undermining the crime control goal of proactive policing activities, such as police stops. This report examines some of the more reliable research that has been carried out on issues broadly related to 'street stops' of ordinary citizens. It makes the assumption that stops can have more than one effect and that some of these effects might, broadly speaking, be favourable and others unfavourable. Hence this report is more than an attempt to answer the question of whether street stops have a short term effect on local crime. We are not claiming to provide an exhaustive review of the literature that summarizes all of the research on issues related to street stops. Were we to do so, we would spend considerable resources reviewing and discarding inadequate research papers. Instead we are relying on Criminological Highlights, a research information service, produced by the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies of the University of Toronto. The papers summarized in this information service not only have been reviewed by reputable social science journals, but also by our editorial board (currently of about 11 people), which has read and evaluated each paper that is summarized in Criminological Highlights. The one page summaries of articles we cite are attached to this report and are an integral part of it. Most importantly, these summaries make it easy for readers to evaluate the information on which our conclusions are based. Details: Toronto: University of Toronto, Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies, 2017. 90p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 6, 2018 at: http://criminology.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/DoobGartnerPoliceStopsReport-17Jan2017r.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Canada URL: http://criminology.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/DoobGartnerPoliceStopsReport-17Jan2017r.pdf Shelf Number: 149726 Keywords: Crime HotspotsPolice CrackdownsPolice Policies and PracticesPolice SurveillancePolice-Citizen InteractionsRacial Profiling in Law EnforcementStop and FriskStop and Search |
Author: Davidson, Neil Title: Space, place and policing in Scotland's night-time economy Summary: There is a growing political discourse in Scotland acknowledging alcohol to be a significant contributor to crime. A significant portion of this is directly related to the evening and night-time drinking based leisure industry i.e. the night-time economy (NTE). The NTE is often characterised by violent and disorderly behaviour concentrated in and around pubs and nightclubs ('hotspots') on weekend nights presenting considerable public health, criminal justice and urban management issues. Recently the political rhetoric has been backed up by new legislation in an attempt to counterbalance what was previously a market-driven economy. There now exists various crime reduction partnerships and situational crime prevention technologies to restrict and control certain behaviours and the presence and movements of persons and groups. This research project has specifically focused on the role of police in this rapidly changing regulatory NTE context. Combining data gathered from participant observation sessions with front-line police and in-depth interviews with multiple NTE stakeholders in a multi-site comparison study across Scotland, this research project provides a robust evidential base from which to analyses and interpret policing of the NTE at the national and local scales using various conceptual frameworks of contemporary policing in western societies. What my findings have shown is that front-line officers have adapted their police work in order to suit the specific context within which they are operating. I have termed this specific variation on traditional understandings of 'cop culture' as being the 'street craft of policing the NTE'. Furthermore, while this street craft was evident across all three case study areas, the extremely tangled and convoluted nature of local security provision at the local scale necessitates that front-line officers adapt this street craft to meet the local specificities of their respective NTEs. Details: Dundee, UK: University of Dundee, 2011. 338p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed May 23, 2018 at: https://discovery.dundee.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/space-place-and-policing-in-scotlands-night-time-economy Year: 2011 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://discovery.dundee.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/space-place-and-policing-in-scotlands-night-time-economy Shelf Number: 150344 Keywords: Alcohol Law EnforcementAlcohol Related Crime, DisorderCrime and PlaceCrime HotspotsDisorderly ConductDrunk and DisorderlyNight-time Economy |
Author: Plan International Title: Unsafe in the City: Sydney Summary: Free to Be is a crowd-mapping website that enables young women to identify and share the location of public spaces that make them feel uneasy and scared or happy and safe, implemented in Sydney in April-May 2018. It was designed in collaboration with Crowdspot, Monash University XYX Lab and young women within the city. Based on Plan International's extensive experience of working with girls and young women in cities through our Safer Cities programme, the research sought to understand more about the experiences of girls and young women. As well as Sydney, Free to Be has been implemented in Delhi, Kampala, Lima, Madrid and Melbourne. The Free to Be tool comprised an interactive map of the city and a survey which allowed girls and young women to drop 'pins' on the map - good or bad - and answer questions about their experiences there, as well as leave comments. A group of young women in Sydney were involved in the design and promotion of the tool, as well as having an opportunity to reflect on the findings to support analysis. In total, 2,083 pins were dropped on spots of the Sydney map, of which 25% denoted good experiences (516) and 75% bad (1,567). Good places were characterised by being busy, often with working people. This was closely followed by the place having a good 'community environment' or being well known to the participant. The threat of sexual harassment with and without physical contact was the main issue identified in connection with bad pins. Over two-thirds of the comments on bad pins included sexual harassment of some kind and 63% of all the pins identified gender-based discrimination as a factor. Discrimination based on ethnicity was identified in 10% of the pins (the highest of all the cities), usually alongside gender discrimination, highlighting the intersectional nature of discrimination and harassment in Sydney. On the street was the most likely location for bad pins, often alongside to/from work or school and public transport. Strong negative clusters tended to form around train stations and bus interchanges. These data demonstrate the compromised freedom for young women and girls moving around their city. Harassment directed at young women and girls, and especially those of the LGBTIQA community, is apparently exacerbated by the lockout laws in Sydney, and the lack of public transport available at corresponding hours. This indicates the complexity of access to, and safety in, the city - an intervention brought in to protect one part of the community increased the pressure on others. Women and girls change their behaviour in response to these challenges: nearly half of those recording bad pins (47%) avoided the area if they were alone and 12% simply never went back to the location. When asked how they responded to bad incidents, 20 participants reported that they stopped studying or quit their job because of their experiences. For more than a third of all the pins (36%), young women were resigned to the fact that such incidents are so frequent that they are used to it. Consequently, they take their own precautions such as walking fast through such areas with their phones at the ready. Reporting of events to the authorities was low at 9%, and in more than two-thirds of these cases (69%), the authorities apparently did nothing. Based on these findings, young women in Sydney made the following recommendations: 1) Behaviour change: - Changing the blame culture: listen to and act upon the stories of women and girls - Challenging toxic masculinity - Allies and bystanders: empowering them to call out harassment and intervene safely 2) Girls' participation in decision-making: listen to and work with girls and young women, respect their experiences and recommendations, and involve them in co-designing their cities. 3) Enforcement and accountability: - Strengthening reporting mechanisms - Improving the responsiveness of security services and the police - Clarification of laws and enforcement regarding street harassment Details: Melbourne: Plan International, 2018. 21p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 3, 2018 at: http://apo.org.au/system/files/196691/apo-nid196691-1025636.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Australia URL: http://apo.org.au/system/files/196691/apo-nid196691-1025636.pdf Shelf Number: 153246 Keywords: Crime AnalysisCrime HotspotsCrime MappingFear of CrimePublic SafetySexual AssaultSexual HarassmentViolence Against Women |
Author: Balogun, Wasiu Abiodun Title: Crude oil theft, petrol-piracy and illegal trade in fuel:an enterprise-value chain perspective of energy-maritime crime in the Gulf of Guinea Summary: he Gulf of Guinea (GoG) has developed into a global energy-maritime crime hotspot, with Nigeria being the epicentre of illegal oil-related maritime activities in the region. For several decades, scholars have sought to justify crude oil theft, petro-piracy and illegal fuel trade especially in the waters of Nigeria, in the context of greed-grievance. While that approach provides a basis for understanding the realities of illegal energy-maritime activities in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, it does little to explain how the illicit activities have evolved into a global enterprise it is today, the dynamics of the business and the infrastructure that sustain the criminality. Against the backdrop of this limitation in existing theoretical underpinning of illegal energy-maritime activities in the GoG, this study adopts an enterprise-value chain model which, moving beyond the greed-grievance narrative, emphasises the primacy of both the enterprise and the marketplace (not players in the market) in explaining, and understanding the dynamics, complexities and persistence of crude oil theft, petro-piracy and illegal fuel trade in the GoG. The enterprise-value chain approach as adopted in the study, offers an advantage of interdisciplinary perspective, combining Smith's enterprise theory of crime and Porter's business management concept of value chain to understanding energy-maritime criminality in the GoG. The enterprise-value chain model sees the tripod of crude oil theft, petro-piracy and illegal trade in fuel as an organised crime; a well-structured economic activity whose business philosophy hinges on the provision of illegal goods and services. Such activities exist because the legitimate marketplace has limited capacity to meet the needs of potential customers. Within the enterprise-value chain framework, the study identifies, and analyses the dynamics of overlap, cooperation and conflict among the different players in the illegal energy-maritime industry as well as mutually beneficial relationships between formal and informal energy-maritime economies. Such an overlap is critical to understanding both the nature of the business and its sustaining value chain. The study concludes that current energy-maritime security architecture in the Gulf of Guinea does not capture the organised, enterprise nature of illicit offshore and onshore activities and its sustaining value chain, which highlights its inherent limitation viz-a-viz the region-s quest for energy-maritime security. There is therefore an urgent need to address this seeming gap as it determines significantly how the phenomenon is considered both for academic purposes and public policy. It is this obvious gap in both academic literature and policy on maritime security in the GoG that this study intends to fill. The study, in the context of its theoretical framework, develops a business approach to enhancing energy-maritime security in the GoG. Details: Lancaster, UK: Lancaster University, 2018. 313p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed February 19, 2019 at: http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/129813/ Year: 2018 Country: Guinea URL: http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/129813/ Shelf Number: 154670 Keywords: Crime HotspotsIllegal TradeMaritime CrimeMaritime SecurityOil TheftPiracy |