Crime mapping has proven itself to be one of the most important innovations in criminal justice over the last couple of decades. It is a process by which departments can predict criminal activity by using technology and by pinpointing where past crimes have taken place. While this does offer many possibilities moving forward, ti also presents several critical challenges that must be addressed in order for mapping to have long-term effectiveness.
One of the ways in which crime mapping can be used positively by police is in allowing departments to route their patrols properly. Departments have to make choices with their somewhat limited resources. They simply cannot patrol every single area of a given place at every time. With this in mind, they must choose the right places, and crime mapping provides a picture of where crimes have taken place.
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In addition, crime mapping provides insights that can allow departments to send the right kinds of police officers to the right places. Police departments are made up of varied groups of officers with different skills. Some officers are more effective on the drug beat, while others are better at dealing with violent crime. With crime mapping, departments can ensure that the rights units are in the right places, thus increasing the quality of policing and prevention in a given place.
In addition, crime mapping allows departments the unique ability to apprehend suspects of past crime. In many instances, the people who commit crimes do so near the places where they live. They tend to stay in their neighborhoods, and one of the keys of crime mapping is that it allows police to dedicate more resources to apprehending people who are dangerous in those neighborhoods. This is especially important in large areas, where people can hide out from police for extended periods of time unless the area is chopped in some meaningful way.
One of the primary challenges associated with this data is what might be deemed the self-scouting effect. One of the best things that police have going for them in trying to stop crime is that they know where they are going to be, while would-be criminals do not know where the police is going to be. However, historical crime data is readily available. Even if people are not able to access the precise data that the police have, they can develop a good idea of where the majority of crime is taking place. With this information in hand, these individuals can then decide to take their criminal activity elsewhere. The data is suggestive, and it can be predictive, but it is not dispositive. Because of the game theory involved in using this data, police could influence where crime takes place, and give individuals the ability to commit crimes out of the sight of police in areas that were previously safe. This assumes a rational, logical criminal, of course, and that impulse may not be true, but this is one of the primary challenges that afflicts departments today.
Crime mapping as a technological solution might benefit society by making policing more transparent. One of the issues right now with policing is that people have little faith in what police are doing, and many are unaware of how police go about their jobs. Crime mapping could bring about a new reality where people are more involved with police. People have more of an understanding of what police do and how they do it. This could bring about more faith in police, which could, in turn, help to heal some of the broken communities around the country that have been afflicted by a lack of trust in modern policing.
