Sunday, May 20, 2012

Crime Analysis

Dan Foster - Certified Crime and Intelligence Analyst

The Cathedral City Police Department current has one California Department of Justice Certified Crime and Intelligence Analyst working for the department. The current analyst started the crime analysis program back in 2001 for the police department. Our department’s analyst graduated from Arizona State University’s Justice Program and is a member of the International Association of Crime Analysts (IACA) and a member of the International Association of Law Enforcement Intelligence Analysts (IALEIA). Crime analysis has become an essential and integral part of the police department.

Crime analysis has been around in law enforcement for the past 30 years but in recent years has become an important part of any law enforcement agency. Some people in law enforcement think of crime analysts as the city’s crime experts while others think of them as the numbers people. As a crime analyst we think of ourselves as a combination of both.

Crime analysts need to have knowledge in numerous areas of law enforcement and in different areas of human behavior. Also, they should be your cities crime expert and know what is going on in their community and in the surrounding areas.

Crime Analysis is defined as:

A set of systematic, analytical processes directed at providing timely and pertinent information relative to crime patterns and trend correlations to assist the operational and administrative personnel in planning the deployment of resources for the prevention and suppression of criminal activities, aiding the investigative process, and increasing apprehensions and the clearance of cases. Within this context, Crime Analysis supports a number of department functions including patrol deployment, special operations, and tactical units, investigations, planning and research, crime prevention, and administrative services (budgeting and program planning). --Steven Gottlieb et al., 1994, "Crime Analysis: From First Report To Final Arrest."

There are 3 types of Crime Analysis each serving the department in different ways:

Tactical Analysis
Strategic Analysis
Administrative Analysis

Tactical Analysis

Tactical analysis deals with immediate criminal offenses to promote quick response. It provides information to assist operational personnel in the identification of specific crime trends and in the arrest of criminal offenders. The primary goal is to identify crime trends and patterns/series.

Strategic Analysis

Strategic analysis is concerned with operational strategies and seeks solutions to on-going problems. It provides information for resource allocation purposes, including patrol scheduling and beat configuration. Its purpose is to identify unusual crime activities over certain levels or at different seasonal times, identify unusual community conditions, provide police service more effectively and efficiently by matching demands for service with service delivery, reduce and/or eliminate recurring problems, and assist in community policing or problem-oriented policing.

Administrative Analysis

Focuses on geographic, economic, and social changes in the city and this information is provided to the police administration, city hall, city council and neighborhood groups. It is critical to budget, personnel, public information, and legal issues.