Usually, here at The Crime Map, we focus on domestic crime mapping and analysis, but I came across this cool case study that examines population shifts/density, crime mapping, and analysis. For example, although Turkey experienced a 10% overall increase in crime since 2004, a population growth analysis shows that crime per 100,000 citizens actually decreased by 10.7%.

The case study also makes the case for crime mapping as an enormous help and huge leap forward in crime analysis and prevention efforts.

Check out the full case study here: http://computer4crime.instablogs.com/entry/crime-mapping-and-analysis-a-case-study-of-bursa-police-department/

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Stuart Adams, at the SociaLies blog recently published a post titled, “Trick or Tweet? Is Twitter a Viable Emergency Notification System?” In the post, he discusses the recent widespread adoption of Twitter in law enforcement, emergency services, and city governments as an emergency notification tool. He ends the post with a question:

Are we setting ourselves up for the big bang by increasing our reliance upon social media for emergency news, rather than what this media was intended for originally?

My answer: Yes (and no).

Emergency Sirens

Although I agree that Twitter is a great citizen communication tool—and that every law enforcement department should use it—we cannot look to Twitter as the Holy Grail of emergency citizen notification, the end-all be-all of the 21st century data-publication system.

When I was younger, I remember my teacher going over the different sounds the public alert sirens would make according to what emergency was occurring. In fact, there was one mounted on top of our elementary school. (Since I lived in Ohio, we were pretty familiar with the sound for a tornado warning.) A system like that—although sooooooo 1950s—actually still has greater reach than Twitter, email, or text message. As long as you can hear, you can know what is going on, in the case of major emergencies.

Granted, a public siren system can’t let you know that there is a traffic accident on 45th and Oak, but it can be very effective in letting everyone know—regardless of their level of technical savvy—that a tornado has been sighted in the area, there are massive wildfires, rampant flooding, or a terrorist attack has taken place. Not to mention the fact that even if cell phone towers are disabled or internet service is disrupted, those sirens will still go off (or the fact that Twitter itself has been shut down in the past for maintenance or because of an attack on its system).

Relying on Twitter

Relying solely on Twitter to disseminate this information is not fool-proof and leaves a lot of people out of the loop. And being out of the loop, or missing a tweet or text, in an emergency could cost lives.

Due to Twitter’s (currently) limited reach, and the desire for law enforcement and emergency services to reach everybody they possibly can during an emergency, Twitter cannot be any department’s sole emergency communication tool.

Using Multiple Channels

Any dependable system will not use one platform, but multiple platforms to disseminate their message. Because of rapidly changing/innovating technology and the fragmentation of communication networks, law enforcement services should develop a multi-channel approach to citizen communication and notification.

However, maintaining multiple channels with separate logins, email address, lists, friends, tweeters, groups, etc., is not only confusing, but hard to manage as well as time consuming. It’s no wonder law enforcement agencies want to open a single Twitter account and stop there. Who has time for all that? And who wants to maintain it?

The Need for an Integrated Platform

That’s why the next generation of social media and communication apps will have to be platforms that interface with multiple channels and accounts. For example, TweetDeck, a great Twitter tool, not only allows you to manage Twitter accounts and searches, but it enables you to send out one tweet to Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace all at the same time.

The best integrated platform, however, will not only send alerts to the big names in social media, but also text messages, emails, Nixle alerts, and more (depending on what new platforms arise), functioning like a 21st century emergency siren. In essence, as more, better integrated platforms arise and mature, the easier it will be for law enforcement to communicate through a vast number of communication channels all at the same time. It would also continue to function on all channels despite the failure of one of those channels (if Twitter goes down, a message can still be sent through Facebook and text message, for example). Unfortunately, I have yet to see such an integrated platform that can do all of that at the same time.

In short, a law enforcement agency that is only using Twitter is setting itself up for failure and is not reaching the entire audience they could. On the other hand, a reliable, comprehensive, integrated platform does not yet exist. There are some limited tools, like TweetDeck and others that automate some integration and that I would encourage law enforcement to use in the meantime, in order to disseminate a single message to as wide a variety of citizens as efficiently as possible.

Yes (and No)

Are law enforcement agencies setting themselves up for a “big bang,” as Adams suggests? Yes, if Twitter is the only system they use. But law enforcement agencies can avoid that meltdown by efficiently tapping as many communication channels as possible. If the technology isn’t there now, it soon will be. And when it is, look for it, understand it, and adopt it as soon as possible.

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Computer use in law enforcement has made many things possible that were once either impossible or laboriously time consuming. The Internet has exploded these possibilities even further. While there are quite a few software products out there specifically designed for crime analysis, often times these products are expensive and out of the reach for many crime analysts. However, some of my most useful tools are free.

Email Notification

A number of Google’s tools have found there way into my daily work product. One of the neatest in my Google bag of tricks is the use of Google Alerts.

Google Alerts allows you to monitor the web continuously for certain search terms. When Google crawls the web and finds new entries that meet those search terms you’ll get an email notification. I use Google Alerts to continuously monitor Internet news stories for news articles about the town in which I work. Like most crime analysts, I also wear the Department’s criminal intelligence analyst hat too. There is quite a bit of good information out there floating around on the Internet in news stories, blogs and websites.

The email notification can either be sent immediately or in digest form. Digest, means that all the relevant articles are aggregated into one email and sent together in one email. For me this digest format works the best. The email will have the article title, a snippet of the story, the source of the story and a link to the original article. If you use an RSS Feed Reader like Google Reader, you can have them sent as an RSS feed as well.

News

While this is a good way to keep up on the local news coverage about police stories in my city, the real value comes when someone from our city goes and does something newsworthy somewhere else. A recent example proved it’s worth when I opened my email to find a news story from a small town newspaper website in Indiana. The story recounted that police there had arrested a citizen of our city after the officer there made a highway interdiction traffic stop and discovered that our citizen had been smuggling a large quantity of narcotics through their city. When I checked our records, I discovered that we had also arrested him for narcotics charges and even had a pending case on him.

I then rang up the Indiana agency and asked them about our errant drug smuggler and even was able to provide copies of our cases to the agency for use in an upcoming court hearing. While speaking to their officer I learned that they had not called our agency and they were quite surprised to find out that we already knew about their two day old arrest. In addition to helping their agency understand more about the criminal they were dealing with, it allowed us to have a more complete picture of his activities as well.

Creating an Alert

In order to use Google Alerts, you need to have a free Google account. Once you have created a Google account and signed in, navigate your browser to the Google Alerts website.

The search terms I find works best is “police anytown anystate” substituting your city and state for “anytown” and “anystate.” Select your preferences for frequency, delivery method, etc. You may also wish to create similar alerts for neighboring towns if your town is like mine and has adjacent communities.

Google has quite a comprehensive help file all the features of Google Alerts. It’s worth a read if you want to get serious about using Google Alerts to stay on top of things.

Scott Dickson is a crime analyst in Killeen, Texas. He blogs at The Crime Analyst’s Blog http://www.crimeanalystblog.net/ and can be reached via email at scott@crimeanalystblog.net

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Too often, approaches to prevent drunk driving focus on “get tough” measures that harshly punish offenders; harsh punishment, after all, will dissuade not only those specific drivers from driving drunk again but also send a message to the community at large that they too should not drive drunk. In theory, this idea seems to make sense.

The problem, however, is that these types of programs deals with drunk driving AFTER the fact, relying on law enforcement to catch people in the act. Given that a first-time drunk driving offender has driven drunk an average of 87 times prior to being arrested, this approach would appear to be a too little too late, and wastes law enforcement resources on catching instead of preventing. A “smart on crime” approach would aim to prevent the crime from occurring in the first place.

Tow to Go

One such approach was created when Budweiser and AAA South forged a partnership with “Tow to Go,” a program that aims to prevent avoidable motor vehicle accidents by providing a free tow and ride home for intoxicated individuals. Since its inception in 1998, when AAA South and Gold Coast Eagle Distributors first partnered with Manatee County, Florida, the program has prevented over 8,600 intoxicated individuals from getting behind the wheel of their vehicles. In 2007 alone, AAA South received 1,652 calls. Not only does this program help the impaired driver get home safely, but it also protects other motorists from the hazard of drunk drivers on the road.

Program Basics

“Tow to Go,” currently running in Metro Atlanta, Metro Nashville, Savannah, and throughout the state of Florida, is open to all intoxicated adults in need of a ride home from a bar or restaurant, regardless of whether or not they are AAA members. The driver, a concerned friend or bar tender can call 1-800-AAA-HELP, where the ERS call service will dispatch a tow truck to take the intoxicated driver and his or her vehicle home, free of charge.

Initially run over the holiday season from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Eve, the program has since expanded to include many of the holidays whose celebrations are closely associated with alcohol consumption: Super Bowl, St Patrick’s Day, Cinco de Mayo, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, and Halloween. The program frequently includes the days that surround the actual holiday from the 2009 schedule listed below:

Super Bowl—January 30th, 31st, February 1st
St. Patrick’s Day—March 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th
Cinco de Mayo—May 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th
Memorial Day—May 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th
Independence Day—July 3rd, 4th, 5th
Labor Day—September 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th
Halloween—October 30th, 31st
Thanksgiving – New Year’s Day—November 26th – January 2nd

Community Partnerships as Deterrence

The “Tow to Go” program is one of many community partnerships that aim to address the problems underlying criminal behavior. As opposed to interventions that aim to deter the offender from additional offending behavior, “Tow to Go” aims to prevent the intoxicated driver from getting on the road in the first place.

While organizations like Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) have made tremendous strides in educating the public about the importance of designated drivers and friends that “don’t’ let friends drive drunk,” far too often intoxicated drivers allow their impaired mental state to cloud their judgment. Fearful of calling a friend or loved one to pick them up or unable to afford an expensive cab ride home, intoxicated drivers get behind the wheel of the car far too often, placing not only themselves but countless others in danger.

It’s understandable to want to punish such behavior and certainly understandable to expect that responsible adults have a safe plan for getting home BEFORE consuming alcohol. It also makes sense, however, to keep the community safe from the harm caused by drunk drivers by giving them alternative means to get home safely. “Tow to Go” does just that. It holds intoxicated drivers responsible for keeping the roads safe by giving them an alternative way home. Framed correctly, programs like “Tow to Go” are among the best forms of deterrence. Their problem-oriented approach deters the offender BEFORE they engage in dangerous criminal behavior, making life easier for law enforcement and preventing accidents beofre they happen.

For more information on “Tow to Go” and other initiatives by Anheuser Busch, please visit AAA South’s website or Anheuser Busch’s website.

Meridith Spencer is an adjunct Professor of Criminal Justice and Sociology at Bridgewater State College and Fisher College and an advocate for public policy that is “smart on crime.” She can be reached at meras28@gmail.com.

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Today, a Superior Court Judge in California struck down Los Angeles’ current ban on new medical marijuana dispensaries, calling the moratorium invalid. The invalidation of LA’s’ attempt to stop new medical marijuana dispensaries from opening, also prevents law enforcement from carrying out the ban. However, the attempt to stop medical marijuana dispensaries from spreading across the city, has created an interesting map.

The LA Times compiled a map of the locations of current marijuana dispensaries, the locations of potential dispensaries that had applied for an exemption from the ban, and those dispensaries whose applications had already been denied or withdrawn.

The ruling today legally makes all of these locations potential marijuana dispensaries. What is most striking about the map is the sheer number of dispensaries. If you zoom in to the map, some areas shows amazing densities of 12 or more dispensaries within one square mile—in some places. That’s greater than any density of McDonald’s restaurants in all of LA.

These types of densities leads me to ask two questions:

1. Who is smoking all that pot? (Seriously, that’s a lot of marijuana, I can’t believe that the demand would be so high as to make dispensaries more ubiquitous than Starbucks.)
2. How will these types of densities affect law enforcement as they try and police illegal marijuana sales, cultivation, and use?

If you can answer these questions, please let me know by leaving a comment. I’m extremely interested in how law enforcement strategies against illegal marijuana will change (be frustrated by) the legalization of medical marijuana.

You can see the full map here: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dispensaries-i,0,5658093.htmlstory

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The Louisiana State Police are cracking down on child pornography with new software that can trace areas where people are exchanging child pornography online. As seen in the video below, the new software takes a huge leap in the fight against child pornography and child sexual abuse:

“I think we’re all discovering that, when we’re working on these child porn investigations, we not only are finding the illegal images, but we’re finding perpetrators who are actually molesting children,” said Toby Aguillard, a detective with the Tangipahoa Sheriff’s office who formerly headed Louisiana’s task force on crimes against children. “It’s a tool that we never had before.”

Unfortunately, because of the pervasiveness of the internet and digital cameras, trading child pornography has become easier for predators. But with the help of technology like this, law enforcement has also seen an increase in arrests. The Louisiana State Police, alone, have made 176 arrests for child pornography this year, which is a 180% increase from last year. And nationwide child pornography arrests have risen 27% in the last 2 years.

The problem however, lies in manpower. As Louisiana Attorney General High Technology Crime Unit lab supervisor Corey Bourgeois points out in the video, they regularly identify 5,600 computers address every month that may be trading child pornography, but:

“As it stands now, we have four investigators and 10 forensic examiners. Four investigators can’t do 5,600 subpoenas.”

It’s sad that the technology is available, but the fund are not forthcoming in order to carryout the actions of identifying and sentencing these predators. With an almost 100% conviction rate, in the state of Louisiana, for those arrested for child pornography, it is almost certain that with enough money and enough employees, we could help save more children from becoming victims.

Read the full story here: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2009/11/post_72.html

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Ever wondered about the crime levels of the suburbs surrounding Sidney? Me neither, but Time Space Research has assembled an interesting little mapping application that covers the Sidney suburbs and surrounding areas that makes Australian crime mapping much more interesting.

To me, the map looks much like the UK crime maps. The Sidney map does not have incident-level data, only a color-coded thematic mapping interface. As well, the Sidney map includes some higher-level analytics that break down crime statistics by type, time, area, comparison, etc.

Although you and I may not live in Australia, this map does provide an interesting study in the variety of crime mapping application that are now popping up all over the world.

See the map by clicking here: http://howsafeisyoursuburb.appspot.com/#view=view1Map

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I just stumbled across what might prove to be a good theoretical resource for crime analysts. Last year, Lin Liu, Co-Director, Joint Center of GIS and Spatial Analysis, University of Cincinnati, released a book titled Artificial Crime Analysis Systems: Using Computer Simulations and Geographic Information Systems. The book gathers academics from across the globe to write about specific areas in the field of artificial crime analysis and crime simulation. Writes Liu:

Artificial crime analysis and crime simulation is an emerging research area that has the potential of revealing hidden processes behind urban crime patterns and criminal justice system operations. This book takes an interdisciplinary approach, combining criminology, computer simulation, and geographic information systems to examine how crime patterns form and what can be done to prevent crime.

Since you can download the entire book for free by clicking here, what do you have to lose? Check it out and read up on the latest overviews of artificial crime analysis systems.

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This post, by Amber Naslund at Altitude, highlights what may be the scariest aspect of social media: the need to give up control. Social media is neither vertical nor horizontal, Amber writes:

It’s a business model that – if deployed well – permeates the very structure and practice of a business. It doesn’t just trickle down a spreadsheet into someone’s budget or list of accomplishments. It’s not a checklist.

Giving Up Control

That permeating effect makes it inherently scary to paramilitary, hierarchical law enforcement agencies. As in many businesses, it’s unheard of for more than the public information office to have anything to do with talking directly to customers.

But not only because it means giving up control of the official message. There’s a deeper issue, a moral issue. Cops see humanity stripped from people every day, and the kind of voyeurism discussed in this article is an ugly reminder. Writes Paul Carr:

Two weeks ago, I wrote here about how the ‘real time web’ is turning all of us into inhuman egotists. How we’re increasingly seeing people at the scene of major accidents grabbing their cellphones to capture the dramatic events and share them with their friends, rather than calling 911.

But Tearah Moore, he takes pains to mention, is not an inhuman egotist:

Certainly, looking at her MySpace page and her Twitter account (before the army finally forced her to lock it down) we see the portrait of a patriot…. In tweeting from the scene, and calling out the media for not reporting the rumours from inside the base, I’m sure she genuinely believed she was helping get the real truth out, and making an actual difference.

For police, it’s not as simple as what Amber writes, “The customers that we say we are trying to connect with do not care what our job description is or what department we work for. They care that we want to bring them inside the walls and make them a vital part of our business.”

Tweeting on the Job

When it comes to police, the public does care about job descriptions. They care that patrol officers won’t be tweeting about their motor vehicle crash, that dispatchers will stay on task as they take 911 calls. It goes back to the higher standard which police are sworn to uphold. Indeed, Carr was later quoted by ABC News as saying, “Twitter about your life when you’re not on the base. The moment you put on the uniform, stop Twittering.”

And yet the public also cares about being made a vital part of police work. Hence the popularity of citizen academies. Civilians like being “in the know.” So an overly restrictive social media policy won’t work either.

Take, for example, the type and frequency of information sharing going on recently at a conference in the United Kingdom. Was he being rude, wondered author Bill Thompson, or bringing important and valuable information to others?

Sharing Information Constantly

A social media policy needs to take into account not only official messages, and not only consequences for unofficial messages, but also for the times when social media can bring people together—police with police, police with civilians.

After all, information sharing is frequently necessary to get the job done, to make changes at whatever level. Emergency response to numerous disasters has made that clear, to the extent that public safety vendors have worked hard to make software, two-way radios, and computers able to communicate seamlessly.

Focus on the Positives

In the end, it isn’t social media that’s scary. It’s the power of messy human creativity. The more law enforcement officers use social media frequently, the easier it will become for them to confuse what “making the world a better place” really means.

And so it isn’t just a matter of making policy, but of constant training—training as integral as officer safety practices and procedures. What to do and when to do it; what not to do and when not to do it; how to tell the difference.

Only by focusing on both positive and negative can officers start to figure out the best ways to use the tools to enhance their own creativity. And only at that point can police departments start to include social media in a way which, as Amber writes:

Collaboration is not just a feel-good buzzword. It’s the idea that our business is built more efficiently through shared knowledge, and shared responsibility. That multiple disciplines work together in order to see – from varied angles of expertise – how an organization works and can excel. What it’s challenges are. How to allocate resources, solve problems, innovate. Together.

Christa M. Miller is founder and co-author of Cops 2.0. A freelance trade journalist turned public relations and social media consultant, she has specialized in public safety issues for the past eight years. She resides in Greenville, SC and can be reached at christammiller@gmail.com.

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Lake Charles, La., joins CrimeReports’ National Crime Map

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