Crime Analysis using GIS for Abu Dhabi Police - Dissertation Example

? Crime Analysis using GIS for Abu Dhabi Police Introduction Today, every society has people that are either good or evil. While many people choose to contribute toward building their society by working positively, others tend to involve themselves in negative activities which hinder the development of their society. In order to prevent this, societies develop laws as well agencies which enforce them. Those who break the law are said to have committed a crime and are punished by law enforcement agencies. However, while these agencies are traditionally linked with catching the criminals after the crime, they are also tasked with prevention crimes before they happen (Dressler, 2002). Crime prevention is an important part of responsibilities of law enforcement agencies particularly police. To do this, Police not only take active measures but also uses intelligence gathering and data related to reported crime to draw out crime prevention strategies. Traditionally, police has used data that it has gathered during reporting and investigations of crime, however, police and other law enforcement agencies have always been resource limited and therefore the question of efficiently utilizing this data has always remained. Fortunately, however, the advancement of computer technologies has led to the development of various solutions that can be used by the police and other law enforcement for much more efficient utilization of intelligence and other data in order to develop effective crime fighting strategies. One of such solution is the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for crime analysis (Chainey and Ratcliffe, 2005). The use of GIS allows for seamless and effective incorporation of police data along with location information, demographics data and infrastructure thus transforming information into actionable intelligence (ESRI, 2010). Statement of the Problem While Abu Dhabi police has been actively updating itself in the past decade or so in terms of its equipment and tactics, it has also paid attention to the use of information technology in fighting crime and other ills that occur in the society. While GIS have already been introduced in the police centres in order to make the police more location aware, however, its effect on crime fighting and prevention has yet to be explored. GIS based crime fighting has already been used successfully in the developed countries; however, its effectiveness for Abu Dhabi police has yet to be demonstrated. The problem that this project will attempt to solve is lack of demonstration of effectiveness of GIS in crime analysis that can significantly improve Abu Dhabi police capability to reduce crimes in the area even more. The Purpose of the Study The purpose of this project is to show how GIS based crime analysis can be used to fight crime in Abu Dhabi by the police. This project also seeks to demonstrate the effectiveness of using GIS in crime analysis. The project will involve using satellite images and other data available from independent and UAE based sources to perform hotspot analysis in order to identify current trouble spots and recommendations on how this information can be used to fight crime and formulate crime prevention strategies. Literature Review Crime Analysis Crime analysis involves a systematic analysis by law enforcement agencies in order to identify the trends and patterns in occurrence of crime. This can help law enforcement agencies in using it resources, which are often limited, in a much more effective manner while also providing a way to develop solutions to crime problems and enhance crime prevention strategies. A crime analysis can be performed on tactical, operational or strategic level. Crime data is used by crime analysts for quick identification of new or existing patterns of crime. This phenomenon is analysed for related factors and then used to predict future occurrences of crimes which they then convey to their agencies. These patterns and prediction information is then used to develop strategies and tactics which specifically target the crime which is more threatening (Osbourne and Wernicke, 2003). GIS use in Crime Analysis The use of GIS can significantly enhance the effectiveness of crime analysis. All crime and disorder problems are related to particular location or geographic information. By making use of this location information can help law enforcement agencies gain a better understanding of the nature of the problems and build better solutions. By using techniques such as hotspot analysis, law enforcement agencies such as police can map crime frequent areas more effectively thus can make a much more informed decision about their tactics. The use of GIS in crime analysis helps in identification and highlighting of the suspicious areas which need to be investigated more. Furthermore, it also supports trend analysis across more than one jurisdiction. In addition to this, it also enhances the implementation of a number of policing method in order to curb crime and disorder. Through integration of traditional as well as non-traditional data available through law enforcement agencies, GIS also improve the quality of overall analysis. Furthermore, it also provides the required tools to capture a crime series as well as predict the occurrences of future crimes (ESRI, 2010). Use of GIS in the Middle East A number of Middle Eastern countries such as Bahrain and UAE have equipped their law enforcement agencies with state of the art tools and training in order to make them capable of handling any arising situation in the current scenario of global terrorism. This has also kept the crime at a very low rate across these countries. As part of this approach, Police in several Middle Eastern countries makes active use of information technologies and telecommunication in its daily routine activities and GIS is one of them. For example, in Bahrain, police makes use of an intricate system involving a network of 3000 CCTV and other IT applications in order to maintain law and order in the country. Data from these sources is then used to perform a crime analysis using GIS application that enables it to identify crime trends as well as current hotspot areas allowing it to manage it resources efficiently (TradeArabia, 2010). Also, Abu Dhabi, an emirate of UAE, is also actively working on implementing a GIS strategy in Abu Dhabi police that was introduced in 2009. According to this strategy, the police will gradually be introduced to various application of GIS particularly an information system that will provide geographical information about on-field units to the dispatcher which will result in better guidance of police, rescuers and fire-fighters to the spots where they are needed (Gangal, 2009). Research Hypothesis The research hypothesis for this project will be “The usability of the GIS techniques produces adequate results in contracting viable methods in deterring crime." Research Questions Research question that this project will attempt to answer include - What benefit can the use of GIS based crime analysis bring to law enforcement agencies? - What is the current status of use of GIS in Abu Dhabi police? - How is crime analysis done by Abu Dhabi police currently? - How can GIS based hotspot analysis benefit Abu Dhabi police? - What recommendations can be made to Abu Dhabi police to improve its crime fighting and prevention capabilities using GIS? Proposed Research Methodology Selected Research Design The result of this research will be built upon gaining a deep understanding of the GIS techniques particularly "Hotspot Analysis" and how hotspot analysis can be used to create priority map based on crime frequency. The research will involve interpretation of the created maps in order to formulate recommendations; hence, the research will be interpretative. The use of maps and other data rather then pure statistics also makes this research qualitative (Saunders, 2007). Primary Research For this research, the primary research will be performed through hotspot analysis. The data and map used for performing this hotspot analysis will be obtained through the Internet as well as Abu Dhabi based sources. In order to perform a comprehensive research the analysis will be performed both on macro and micro level of city which will make used of both city level and area level maps. The hotspot analysis will be performed in ArcGIS software. Using available crime data from Abu Dhabi police and geographical data available through maps, hotspot analysis will used to map each crime to its location of occurrence on the map thus creating different region or spot with different level of crime frequency. The recommendations of this research will be based on this hotspot analysis. Secondary Research Articles and books located on the Internet as well as public and university libraries will be used to accomplish secondary research for this project. Articles that will be used in this project include Geographical Analysis Crime Mapping and the CrimeStat Program, Spatial monitoring of geographic patterns: an application to crime analysis and Crime Mapping and Crime Prevention. Books that will be used to perform secondary research include Geographic information systems and crime analysis, GIS in law enforcement: implementation issues and case studies and Information System Approach to the Spatial Display and Analysis of Urban Crime Data. Limitations This research will attempt to explore the benefits of GIS based crime analysis for Abu Dhabi police which has not been done before. This also limits the scope of this research for Abu Dhabi only, however, keeps the research more focused and provide opportunity to make this research comprehensive. Another limitation of this research is the difficulty in obtaining maps and crime data related to Abu Dhabi from Abu Dhabi police and other sources. The less data that is made available for this research, the more this research is going to lose it accuracy and importance. Furthermore, there is also a constraint of funds for this research as this research may involve travelling to Abu Dhabi to obtain the required data or images as well as the cost that will incurred on their purchase. The limited amount of time allocated for this research may also effect its comprehensiveness, however, efforts will be made to make it as comprehensive as possible. Significance of the Research Personal Significance This project holds particular importance to me because I live in Abu Dhabi and because of my interest in exploring the use of information technology in crime fighting. As a student of GIS, this project offers me an opportunity to prove how effective the use of GIS can be for Abu Dhabi police which tries hard to keep the crime at a very low level. I believe GIS is an important area which the law enforcement authorities have just begun to explore and the results of this project will convince them to more actively pursue the implementation of these technologies. Significance to the Research Industry Though there has been a lot of work done on the use of GIS technologies for crime analysis and how police department in different countries have benefitted from its used, there is little or no literature available that explores the case of Middle Eastern countries. Middle Eastern countries have a unique geography and a very efficient but different police system and it would be very interesting to see how GIS base crime analysis would benefit police organizations in these countries. By exploring the case of Abu Dhabi, the research done for this project will make a significant contribution toward GIS based crime analysis literature and will serve as beginning for exploring this area further. Contribution to the Society The result and recommendations of this project are expected to significantly benefit both the police and people of Abu Dhabi. The successful demonstration of hotspot analysis for crime analysis in Abu Dhabi would not only increase the interest of Abu Dhabi police authorities in implementing a GIS based system for crime fighting and prevention and as a result would make the people of Abu Dhabi more secure. List of References Chainey, S and Ratcliffe, J. 2005. GIS and Crime Mapping. John Wiley and Sons. Dressler, J. 2002. Encyclopedia of crime and justice. Macmillan Reference USA. ESRI. 2010. Applying GIS Technolgy to Crime Analysis. ESRI [online]. Available from . Access date 13 March 2011. Gangal, N. 2009. Abu Dhabi Police to use GIS technology. Arabian Business Website [online] Available from . Access Date 13 March 2011. Osborne, D and Wernicke, S. 2003. Introduction to crime analysis: basic resources for criminal justice practice. Routledge. Saunders et al M. 2007. Research Methods for Business Students, Essex: Pearson Education. TradeArabia. 2010. Bahrain's police force goes high-tech. TradeArabia Website [online] Available from . Access Date 13 March 2011. Read More