Using GIS: Crime Suppressions and MORE!
This story maps walks you through the applications and analyses possible using the ESRI ArcGIS platform.
DISCLAIMER: What is presented here is only scratching the surface of what is possible with this software. The applications and analyses you are going to see are incredibly adaptable to fit the needs and use of any department here at SLED. As you go through, keep an open mind in how you could utilize some of these applications as a solution in your own area of influence.
GIS & Crime Suppressions
Stage 1: Pre-planning
In an effort to push towards a more intelligence-led policing, we as an agency must ask: WHERE and WHEN is crime occurring? To answer those questions in regards to the upcoming Chester Crime Suppression, the GIS department has obtained the 911 calls from Chester SO and created an interactive dashboard to showcase basic data analyses and statistics to aid in the decision making process of the pre-planning stages. The primary goal of this dashboard (seen below) is to provide a detailed picture of violent crime in Chester County and to support an intelligence based crime suppression so that our agency is able to allocate resources more efficiently and effectively. (We are limited by the data we have access to and different datasets can help extract the answers to different questions. Getting data from each agency's RMS may help us dive into even greater insights as to the true nature of crime in an area.)
The top portion of the dashboard focuses on spatial analysis: The 'Point Map' color codes all violent crime call types and each point corresponds to a single call. Clicking on a point will bring up a pop-up window giving more information about that call. The 'Heat Map' shows our hotspots. Zooming in closer will allow the heat map to update to show more specific hot spot areas. Finally, the '80/20 Map' is an analysis ran via ArcGIS Pro Desktop. This is a stagnant map, so it will not update with filters. An 80/20 analysis builds off the concept that a large portion of crime is committed by a small portion of people or in a small area. This analysis allows us to isolate the top addresses associated with crime, the top 10 of which are showcased in list format on the middle left. The bottom portion of the dashboard focuses on temporal analysis: The column graphs and pie chart organizes the Call for Service data temporally to allow us to infer when violent crimes may be most likely to occur. This dashboard is set up to allow users to filter the data using the filter buttons in the header as well as by simply clicking one or multiple columns/slices on these charts.
Stage 2: Implementation
Once it has been determined when and where the crime suppression will take place, a common question among those involved in the planning process is how they can keep track of any public contact made (i.e. serving a warrant, traffic stop, etc.). The GIS department has been exploring a few suggestions that may help our agency better understand what is occurring during these crime suppressions.
*Alastar has much of this capability, so in this section, focus more on alternative uses for these featured applications*
1) Survey123:
Survey123 is an ESRI application that allows us to custom design a survey with questions pertaining to data we are wanting to collect. Below I have created an example of a crime suppression survey. The survey is completely customizable and is set up similar to Microsoft Forms.
Each field of this survey can be thought of as a field in an excel data sheet. This survey captures temporal and spatial data that can then be used to automatically populate an associated map or dashboard (see below). Driver's license can be uploaded along with other photos that may be important for subsequent evaluations.
2) Quick Capture
Quick Capture is similar to Survey123 in that it is an automated data collection; however, while Survey123 just requires access to a link, Quick Capture does require a log in and app download. This app is all about speed and getting the information in quickly. Essentially, the current design by the GIS department allows a user to hit a button and then gives them the option to take up to five photos (such as a drivers license). This app uses your device to capture the current location and date/time instead of allowing the user to handle that information on the front end.
Some other important things to note about Quick Capture is that the buttons are completely customizable. When I change them, they are automatically available to any user to update. You are also able to see your submissions on a map.
This application also has the capability to track other users using 'Track Viewer' and see submissions from other people; however, SLED does not currently have the licensing to turn that capability on.
Similar to other apps, this data can be streamlined into a dashboard.
3) Field Maps
ArcGIS Field Maps combines data collection, map viewing, and location tracking into a single app. Once again, SLED does not have the ArcGIS Tracker/Location Sharing license, so unfortunately the tracking option cannot be enabled, but Field Maps essentially combines Survey 123 and mapping. Survey 123 is form focused, while Field Maps is map focused, but essentially they do the same thing without that added tracking component.
Click on each image to explore the app view. Image 1 shows what the map looks like. You click the + button and the data collection form comes up (image 2). Hitting add point captures your location in coordinate format (image 3) and once all addition information is filled out, click update point (image 4). To finalize the point, just click the check mark in the top right corner and you are ready to move on!
This web map is a result of the Field Maps and can be used to make similar dashboards we have already seen thus far and similar analyses could also be conducted to determine where activity was highest during a crime suppression/saturation and so on.
Stage 3: Evaluation
The key to effective intelligence led policing is being able to evaluate whether the crime suppression efforts were indeed effective. One of the key things mentioned in the New Orleans debrief referenced having statistics to back up the crime suppressions.
There are a number of ways to do this, but in the example using Chester we would ideally use similarly collected data to determine what effect the crime suppression efforts had (ex: using 2023 Chester Calls for Service to compare pre-suppression to post-suppression statistics). One example of how to do this would be to run a density change analysis on the data. The maps paired below show the heat map that was included in the Chester Pre-Planning Dashboard, just to remind you of the violent crime hot spots in Chester County, and a Density Change map, which compares the 2021 violent crime calls for service to the same 2022 data. There we can isolate where the increases (red) and decreases (yellow) occurred spatially in the data.
Using a density change analysis can help us evaluate the change in hot spots or if analysis shows there was no change in overall violent crime, then where the crime moved.
While Alastar may be great to collect the data in real time, the dashboard below powered by ESRI could be a key resource that SLED needs to evaluate the execution of their crime suppression programs. Having access to Alastar data will allow me to make an identical map to the one included in the dashboard to debrief any sort of crime suppression or major event that Alastar was used for.
This dashboard displays the results of the crime suppression survey. Once again, this is an interactive map and the dashboard elements are completely customizable to showcase any elements of the survey the command chain or anyone reviewing the results of the 'crime suppression' may find useful. Every point on the map can be clicked on to view a pop-up with additional information and attachments (drivers license/additional photos). The current set up of the dashboard provides a few summarizing graphs/lists on the left including a list of contacts made with a few major details added, a column chart comparing the number of contacts submitted by person, and a column chart that presents the data by type of contact. The information can be filtered by submitter or contact type in the header simply by clicking the columns or using the filter buttons in the header of the dashboard. At the bottom, a timeline is provided to give a more detailed explanation of what occurred and when.
There are many avenues that could be taken to evaluate the effectiveness of a crime suppression program, including many additional analyses possible within the ESRI ArcGIS Pro platform, such as Emerging Hot Spot Analysis, Kernal Density Analysis, Summarize Incident Count, Summarize Percent Change, Colocation Analysis, Space and Time Cube, as well as utilizing Census data to show comparisons between crime and demographics/socio-characteristics at state, county, census tract, block, block group, or municipality level. We could also compare the hot spots in an area to SLED activity maps to evaluate whether prime hot spots were touched during the commission of a crime suppression.
Additional Capabilities/Projects:
WE ARE LIMITED BY OUR CURRENT RESOURCES
SCIBRS data only collects down to the county level and while SCIEx collects all information contained within an incident report, very few agencies replicate into that program. This limits us to state and county-level analyses, which can be useful for a statewide overview, such as in Crime in South Carolina, but those restrictions hinder any further analysis that may give insight to the true nature of crime in our state.
Thank you,
The GIS Department would be happy to serve you!
Request your GIS materials at https://arcg.is/5uPf90
