GEOPROCESSING FOR COMMUNITY CRIME PREVENTION PLANNING (FROM CRIMINAL JUSTICE INFORMATION AND STATISTICS SYSTEMS - INTERNATIONAL SEARCH SYMPOSIUM - PROCEEDINGS, FOURTH, 1979, BY JOHN W LAUCHER - NCJ-63648)

• NCJ Number: 63663
• Author(s): D W FRISBIE
• Date Published: 1979
• Length: 6 pages
• Corporate Author: SEARCH Group Inc.
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Statistics
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

THIS SYMPOSIUM ADDRESS DISCUSSES GEOPROCESSING, AND ITS APPLICATIONS AND ADVANTAGES IN PLANNING COMMUNITY CRIME PREVENTION PROGRAMS.

Abstract

ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS OF CRIME PREVENTION PROGRAMS ARE PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION, PROGRAM PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT, IMPLEMENTATION, AND PROGRAM EVALUATION. PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION REQUIRES CAREFUL CRIME ANALYSIS, WHICH WILL ALSO FORM THE DATA FOR EVALUATION. DATA COMPRISE VARIOUS OPINIONS OF POLICE AND CITIZENS AS WELL AS CRIME STATISTICS. COMPUTERS AND THEIR GEOPROCESSING SYSTEMS MEANINGFULLY PROCESS THESE LARGE AMOUNTS OF DATA. ALTHOUGH CRIMES ARE OFTEN REPORTED AND ANALYZED GEOGRAPHICALLY, MOST COMMUNITY CRIME PREVENTION PROGRAMS ARE NOT ORGANIZED ALONG THE SAME GEOGRAPHICAL BOUNDARIES AS POLICE CRIME REPORTING SYSTEMS. THEREFORE, WHEN CENSUS OR PRECINCT CRIME REPORTS ARE CONVERTED TO NEIGHBORHOOD REPORTS, ACCURACY MAY BE LOST. COMMON GEOPROCESSING OUTPUTS INCLUDE MAPS AND CHARTS, WITH ADDRESS MATCHING AND ADDRESS AREA CONVERSIONS ESPECIALLY USEFUL TO COMMUNITY CRIME PREVENTION PROGRAMS. ADDRESS MATCHING TRANSPONSES EVERY STREET ADDRESS TO A LARGER GEOGRAPHIC COORDINATE SYSTEM TO FACILITATE EVENT ANALYSIS. PLANNERS CAN USE ADDRESS-AREA CONVERSIONS TO DETERMINE CRIME DISTRIBUTION IN A NEIGHBORHOOD. MOREOVER, GEOGRAPHIC DISPLAYS OF CRIME DATA HELP MOTIVATE CITIZENS TO COMBAT CRIME AND TO BEWARE OF CRIME RISKS. OTHER CRIMINAL AND NONCRIMINAL JUSTICE APPLICATIONS OF GEOPROCESSING ARE DISCUSSED. MAPS ARE INCLUDED. (PAP)