Putting crime on the map
Web sites help meet the public's growing demand for crime data
This is an important trend to note. Analysts must develop more sophisticated GIS skills and use them to become better analysts as crime mapping using pin maps moves to the private sector...
Monday, June 30, 2008
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Crime Pattern ID: Exotic Animal Trafficking
Pattern: Exotic Animals Trafficking
Victims: exotic animals and their owners/habitats
Perpetrators: organized crime as well as individuals, more extensive than weapons trafficking
Locations: exports from Africa and the Far East, may happen anywhere - your norm may be exotic somewhere else in the world
Times/Entry/Approach Methods/Weapons/Tools: vary - see Resources below
Vehicles/Transportation Routes: global problem with local indicators, US major destination for animals
Stolen Goods: exotic animals/animal parts, sometimes threatened and/or endangered species
Method: vary - see Resources below
Motive: profit, desire for animals or animal parts (fur, bones, etc)
Query Terms: birds, macaw, parrot, lizard, snake, bear, tiger, monkey, hedgehog, prairie dogs, names of specific animals, animal parts, hide, skin, bone, coral, conch, elephant, tusk, horn, frog, beetle, insect, iguana, cougar
Suggestions: be aware of indicators of this type of problem and query your reports on a regular basis to see if there are any indicators, stolen animals or reports including animals, communicate cross-jurisdictionally to uncover possible wide regional trends
Resources:
Crime analyst helps find patterns of criminals to prevent violence
Here's a nice article about a crime analyst in Oklahoma City.
Fusion Center Trifold Pamphlet
This pamphlet summarized the fusion center concept. It is from the National Criminal Intelligence Resource Center.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Crime Pattern ID: Parking Lot/Ramp Crimes
"Parking lots and decks are the scene of more crimes leading to a lawsuit than any other corporate setting. A respected litigation analysis firm estimates that 38% of robberies and 17% of sexual assaults on American workers occur while walking to or from their parked cars." from Protecting Against Parking Lot Crime
Pattern: Parking Lot/Ramp Crimes (including vandalism, theft, purse snatching, robbery, carjacking and abductions)
Victims: persons using parking facilities and their vehicles
Perpetrators: varies by crime but mainly a crime of opportunity
Locations: parking lots/ramps/facilities - often focused on particular lots that are poorly designed for safety
Times,Entry Methods/Approach Methods,Weapons,Tools,Vehicles/Transportation Routes, Stolen Goods, Method, Motive: ALL VARY BY CRIME
Query Terms: parking, lot, ramp, space
Suggestions: find your crime hot spots and have officers work with security to target harden problem lots/ramps, make certain you know the addresses of all your lots/ramps and that officers are consistent with reporting crimes at proper locations, when assessing problems of theft or vandalism make sure you figure the ratio of vehicles to parking spaces to determine severity of problem, pay attention to any serious violent crime patterns in lots/ramps and look for series related to lots/ramps
Resources:
5 Parking Lot Safety Tips
Friday, June 27, 2008
GIS: Cops Favor New Kind of Plotting
Although most of us know about GIS, this article is interesting nevertheless - it features a GIS/analysis success story from Toronto..
Aluminum to hit record highs as energy costs climb
Aluminum is a likely target for thieves if this article is correct....
Thursday, June 26, 2008
LOST AMONG THE DATA
This is a thought-provoking article sent to me by Frank Marsh, from NDIC. It won't be news to analysts but it is worth reading.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Car break-ins lead to bigger thefts
A crime analysis unit has identified a prpblem in this article... The RCMP also advise the public a bout the problem at Surrey - Crime Hotsheet - Residential Garage Break and Enters.
Just Like The CBS Drama "NUMB3ERS": Police Use Math to Crack The Case
Just Like The CBS Drama "NUMB3ERS": Police Use Math to Crack The Case - this article may exaggerate just a bit but crime analysis makes the news again, which is a good thing....
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Crime Pattern ID: Elevators/Stairwells
Pattern: Elevators/Stairwells (robbery, sexual assault)
Victims: those using elevators/stairwells
Perpetrators: persons who use opportunity to commit a crime
Locations: more often in hotels, schools, office buildings
Times: less busy times for building
Entry/Approach Methods: suspect sometimes hides and attacks, may act as if he/she belongs in environment and then attack when alone with victim or victim unaware
Weapons: varies by criminal
Vehicles/Transportation Routes: must flee on foot out of building, may know routes
Stolen Goods: varies
Method: suspect may get in elevator with victim or may be waiting in elevator for victim - same with stairs
Motive: power, valuables
Query Terms: elevator, stairs, stairway, stairwell, hall, hallway lurk, hide, hiding, lurking
Suggestions: track these crimes as they may help you identify a crime series by MO
Resources:
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Review of Psychology of Intelligence Analysis
This review makes an extremely important point - that target knowledge is important in analysis. The reviewer says that this matters especially in the CIA, but I think it matters in law enforcement analysis as well. If you don't know the subject you are analyzing and understand its past, how are you going to find meaningful patterns?
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Crime Pattern ID: Bridges/Underpasses/Overpasses
Pattern: Bridges/Overpasses/Underpasses (objects thrown at vehicles/drivers)
Victims: drivers of any sort of vehicle on the roadways
Perpetrators: juveniles, sometimes gang members
Locations: on roads with overhanging roadways
Times: may happen any time - more likely in darkness when perpetrators cannot be identified
Entry/Approach Methods: unsuspecting drivers are targeted from above
Weapons: rocks, bricks, other objects
Vehicles/Transportation Routes: some locations are repeat - may be a problem location to study - limit access
Method: often multiple suspects - throw object on vehicles below, breaking windshields, potential to cause fatal accidents, sometimes injuring driver or passengers, causing accidents
Motive: thrill seeking, initiation
Query terms: throw, overpass, underpass, rock, brick, bridge, windshield
Suggestions; track this crime - sometimes there are serial offenders or hot spots, may be hard to track - query your data and build upon the history in your jurisdiction, map these crimes
Monday, June 16, 2008
Crime Pattern ID: Veterinarian Office Theft
Pattern: Veterinarian Office Theft
Victims: veterinarian offices/hospitals
Perpetrators: drug addicts/drug abusers
Times: when office is closed
Entry/Approach Methods: standard burglary methods - may cut alarms
Stolen Goods: controlled substances such as Ketamine, people may try to steal their pets to avoid paying medical bills incurred
Method: controlled substances used for animal care stolen from offices, sometimes inside job
Motive: to obtain drugs
Query Terms: ketamine, Special K, K, vet, veterinary, veterinarian
Suggestions: track all these crimes as they tend to become serial crimes, may cross jurisdictions
Resource:
Friday, June 13, 2008
A new threat, a new institution: The fusion center
A new threat, a new institution: The fusion center is required reading! It includes a video.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Problem Analysis Module
"PAM (Problem Analysis Module) gives you a framework for analyzing any persistent crime and public safety problem. PAM will ask you to input information concerning every aspect of the problem and then suggest the kinds of responses you could try."
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Crime Pattern ID: Medical Identity Theft
Pattern: Medical Identity Theft
Victims: patients of doctors, hospitals, clinics
Perpetrators: variety of types of identity thieves, persons who want to obtain health-care fraudulently or sell identities for people who want health care or to use/sell the information for credit card fraud (based on SSN and other identifiers in stolen records) or insurance fraud by medical professionals, may be inside job
Locations: medical offices, medical file rooms, cyberspace/computers
Times: not a significant factor, thefts from offices of files would occur outside of office hours in burglaries, although larcenies could occur during office hours as well
Entry/Approach Methods: may be inside job - staff stealing records, copying them or emailing them; may be burglary, may steal medical professionals laptops
Tools: knowledge of medical identity theft benefits, computer skills
Vehicles/Transportation Routes: not significant variable except in crime series
Stolen Goods: health identity
Method: stealing patients medical records, sometimes fraud in medical records for insurance money/drugs/other benefits
Motive: profit and/or health care and/or insurance fraud
Query Terms: doctor and office, clinic and office, records, files, insurance, identity, benefits, fraud, hospital and office, etc.
Suggestions: locally theft of records from medical offices may be noted in narratives of crime reports, criminals may search for record info in trash, medical staff computers may be stolen - look for these things and track them, follow up with investigators to gather more information on these cases
Resources:
SurevyMonkey.com
"The simple way to create surveys. Intelligent survey software for primates of all species. SurveyMonkey has a single purpose: to enable anyone to create professional online surveys quickly and easily."
IHMC CmapTools version 4.18
IHMC CmapTools version 4.18 is a free concept mapping software that can be used for association charting, event flow charting, commodity flow charting and mind mapping. (IHMC = Institute for Human and Machine Cognition)"IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System and is affiliated with several Florida universities."
Monday, June 9, 2008
20-year-old solves smash and grab case
Another crime analysts gets attention from the media! Read this article....
Crime Pattern ID: Prescription Fraud
Pattern: Prescription Fraud
Victims: pharmacies, veterinarians, insurance industry who pay for multiple illegal prescriptions inadvertently
Perpetrators: addicts, black market
Locations: pharmacies in drug stores, hospitals, clinics
Times: not a significant variable except in theft series
Tools: forging tools in the case of forged prescriptions
Vehicles/Transportation Routes: individuals will go to various doctors for multiple prescriptions
Stolen Goods: prescription pads may be stolen
Method: forging prescriptions, going to several doctors to get multiple prescriptions (termed “doctor shopping”), and altering prescriptions to increase the quantity
Motive: to obtain drugs
Query Terms: prescription, pharmacy, drug store, forged, signature, pills, narcotics, codeine, methadone, Demerol (meperidine), Percocet, Vicodin, and OxyContin, etc.
Suggestions: track all cases of prescription fraud - do a problem study of this issue in your jurisdiction - it is a billion dollar problem nationally that is seldom addressed.
Resources:
The Problem of Prescription Fraud
A Pharmacist's Guide to Prescription Fraud
Data analyst latest crime-fighting tool
This is an article boasting of the value of a newly hired analyst.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Aurora Police Analyst Dawn Tollakson honored
This is a nice story about a crime analyst recognized for her work on a theft ring.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Crime Pattern ID: Carjacking
Pattern: Carjacking
Victims: may be innocent persons, sometimes related to drug buying/dealing - victims who trade cars for a few hours to a drug dealer and call it a carjacking when they report the loss of their vehicle
Perpetrators: suspects in need of quick transportation, suspects who want a vehicle to take to be stripped, suspects who are in gangs
Locations: more likely in large urban areas, near drug houses, at intersections when a vehicle is stopped, at gas stations, in parking lots... in South Africa the crime is called hijacking and there were 16,000 such crime there in one year - signs are posted for hot spots of the criminal activity
Times: various times of day
Entry/Approach Methods: may bump car with another car to initiate opportunity, may be hiding and attack victim
Weapons: often occur at gunpoint or threat of gun not displayed
Vehicles/Transportation Routes: may use vehicle in crime and discard it in their own neighborhood
Stolen Goods: vehicle, sometimes rob victim of wallet/purse/belongings
Method: a carjacking involves robbery of a vehicle while people are in the vehicle and is often a violent crime, sometimes victims are kidnapped as well, in rarer instances crime may lead to sexual assault or murder
Motive: to obtain a vehicle, also may be a need for power, or a need to escape a scene or obtain a vehicle to use in a crime/to commit a crime
Query terms: vehicle, car, robbery, carjacked, carjacking, stopped at light (or sign), fled in victim's vehicle (or car)
Suggestions: it is important to track all carjackings in your area to uncover any sort of patterns; query your databases for stolen cars AND robbery to find all incidents of carjacking; track all known carjackers in your jurisdiction
Resources:
Crime Pattern ID: Theft from Cars
Pattern: Theft from Cars
Victims: owners of parked cars
Perpetrators: often drug addicts needing quick cash, sometimes juveniles
Locations: driveways, parking lots, parks, schools, churches, sporting events. concerts, shopping malls/plazas, etc; may target places repeatedly
Times: any time of day, increases in weather when suspects
Entry/Approach Methods: suspects often approach and flee on foot although other transportation cannot be ruled out
Tools: prying tools, spark plugs to break window, rocks, bricks
Vehicles/Transportation Routes:
Stolen Goods: purse, wallet, laptop, change, coins, gps, satellite radio, stereo, glove compartment contents (any sort of valuables in vehicle), musical instrument, sporting equipment, gifts
Method: usually a smash and grab - smash a car window and grab any valuables, may pry door or open lock, flees with portable items, may open trunk as well
Motive: quick cash - items that can be sold easily or traded for drugs
Query terms: glove compartment, gps, car stereo, cut wires, broke window, rock, brick, spark plug, change (coins), broke, lock, lock, smash
Suggestions: know your 6% who commit 60% of the crimes of this type in your area - make a portfolio of these criminals and share with your agency officers and nearby jurisdictions, help community in target hardening efforts (via flyers or media or sign postings); surveillance; theft rates should be computed per parking space or vehicle
Resources:
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Crime Pattern ID: Dog Fighting
Pattern: Dog Fighting
Victims: dogs, dog owners who pets are stolen, bait animals
Perpetrators: those engaged in the blood sport, also those who breed fighting dogs
Locations: dog fighting takes place in a variety of places around the world including Latin America - it is a felony crime in all 50 states in the US
Weapons: guns and violence are associated with dog fighting events
Vehicles/Transportation Routes: breeders and "dogmen" may move their dogs around frequently, so any unusual amount of transported dogs should be noted
Stolen Goods: dogs may be stolen, bait animals may be stolen for fights
Method: dog fighting is a profit-making activity with a culture of its own, gambling, drugs, guns, and gangs area associated with this activity, see the resources listed below for details
Motive: financial gain, gambling
Query Terms: dogs, pit, chained, wound, blood,
Suggestions: officers should note indicators such as multiple dogs housed in one location, fighting pits, ledger slips, stats on animals, training devices, executed dogs; all known dog fighters/dog fight promoters should be tracked; stolen animals in your area may be indicator of dog fighting
Resources:
Monday, June 2, 2008
Crime Pattern ID: Bus Stop Criminals
Pattern: Bus Stop Criminals
Victims: People waiting at bus stops
Perpetrators: Crimes of opportunity, sometimes a serial offender who knows where to target “prey,” may also be multiple suspects
Locations: bus stops without much natural surveillance may be targeted more often
Times: early morning, late evenings are more likely times of day
Entry/Approach Methods: may approach in a vehicle
Weapons: may use a weapon of any kind
Vehicles/Transportation Routes: bus routes
Stolen Goods: varies, cash, wallet, purse, clothing, footwear, purchases
Method: may pick pockets, may rob victims, may sexually assault victims, may kidnap victims
Motive: cash or belongings, sometimes sexual assault
Query Terms: bus, bus stop, corner, shelter, waiting, exiting, route
Suggestions: Ask officers to note when a crime occurs at a bus stop in their narratives. Track all crimes and look for hot spots. Also look for suspicious activity – persons lurking – may be pedophile, sex offender, robber, or pick pocket.
Resources:
New crime data analyst keeps eye on police information
This a a nice news article! It speaks to the added-value of having an analyst in a police agency.
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