Data Selection for Crime Analysis

Effective crime analysis begins with selecting the right data for the problem, not simply analyzing what is available. This assignment evaluates your ability to match crime problems to appropriate data sources and justify those choices using analytical reasoning.

Select TWO Crime Problems

Choose two of the following problems:

• Street robberies in a residential area
• College parties at off-campus housing
• Traffic crashes around schools
• Sale and buying of drugs around convenience stores and apartment complexes
• Shootings at and around night clubs

Identify Appropriate Data Types

For each problem, identify the type(s) of data that would be most useful for analysis.

Note: More than one data type may be appropriate.

Examples of data types may include (but are not limited to):

• Calls for service
• Incident / offense reports
• Arrest data
• Field interview or stop data
• Crash reports
• CAD data
• EMS or hospital data
• Licensing or code enforcement data
• Temporal (time-of-day/day-of-week) data
• Place-based or GIS data

Analyst Justification (One Paragraph per Problem)

For each selected problem, write one paragraph that:

1. Identifies the primary data type(s) you would examine
2. Explains why those data are appropriate for the specific problem
3. Connects the data choice to:

• The nature of the problem (place-based, offender-based, victim-based, time-based)
• The type of analysis that could be conducted (tactical, strategic, or intelligence-led)

Textbook: Crime Analysis with Crime Mapping

• Author: Rachel B. Santos
• Publisher: Sage Inc., 2022
• Edition: 5th Edition