NCJ Number
73944
Journal
Kriminalistik Volume: 31 Issue: 7 Dated: (1977) Pages: 289-296
Date Published
1977
Length
8 pages
Annotation
The significance of crime geography in determining police organization and tactical deployment is discussed with particular emphasis on West Germany.
Abstract
Contrary to other approaches, criminal geography is here understood as the relation between the specific structure of an area (e.g., its topography, zoning regulations, and economic activities) and its criminal activities at a particular time and place. Methods used by this type of criminal geography include a careful delimitation of the area under study, a description of geographic, demographic, economic, and architectural factors of influence, and a statistical study of crime scenes, times of offenses, offender residences, and other offender data. Data collected over long periods of time may be used to determine the basic police organization in the area under study, while short-term data help to guide immediate police tactical deployment. With regard to short-range predictions, computer generated maps have proved to be valuable tools since they furnish rapid graphic representations of high crime areas. In West Germany, such crime prediction systems function in direct conjuction with other technical systems (such as traffic monitoring equipment or security systems) to furnish maximum protection to hazardous areas and endangered objects (e.g., parking lots, banks, and political establishments). Crime geography also assists in detecting dynamic processes in criminal activity such as offender mobility (i.e., the relation between offenders' residences and their crime scenes, and the means of transportation involved in the offense) and geographic shifts in criminal activity. In West Germany, a special branch of criminal geography is devoted to tracing the movement patterns of suspected offenders or particularly dangerous offender groups. The article includes 24 bibliographical footnotes.