This post is a continuation of the once a week Friday Analysts' Corner post to explain, for working crime analysts, how to keep track of pattern data in their own files using MS Excel. I urge you all to listen to the podcast from earlier this week about information sharing. In the spirit of NOT silo-ing data, the Excel files you create can be saved in a shared folder for others in your agency to see, and should be saved in such a manner. JUST MAKE CERTAIN ONLY YOU AND YOUR ANALYTICAL TEAM CAN EDIT THE FILES! Careful data entry will pay off for future analytical tasks. You need quality control.
Here is an example workbook of how you might prepare a workbook for tracking all events related to firearms in your jurisdiction. Be sure to scroll through all sheets. I did not enter data - just some guidelines. Track what you feel matters for you as an analyst. NEVER do analysis in your tracking sheets. ALWAYS copy and paste to another Excel workbook to do analysis.
Next week I will discuss some important crime types to track - and tell you why they are important to prioritize with special effort and your TLC.
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