Technology
Data Exchange & Crime Mapping
Data Exchange & Crime Mapping: A Guide for Crime & Disorder Partnerships, by Chief Inspector Stephen Radburn (secondee to the Crime Reduction Team at the Government Office for the East Midlands).
This report examines the opportunities that crime mapping gives to Crime and Disorder partnerships to spot local patterns and develop more meaningful and effective solutions to local problems. Maps can be extremely valuable tools for partnerships to help spot actual (as opposed to perceived) trends. When real data can be pulled together and displayed on a single map, users can see patterns that may previously have been overlooked. Previously each source of the data may have been aware of only part of an overall pattern. A more complete picture of what has happened on the ground can only assist in the targeting of resources into areas where they will have the greatest effect.
The report recognises that political and organisational barriers may exist to discourage the initial creation of data exchange between organisations. For example, data owners may be concerned that their data is imperfect, incomplete, ambiguous, or unflattering to the organisation. The author gives some advice on how such problems might be surmounted.
The report also recognises that compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998 may be perceived to be an obstruction to data sharing. A full chapter in the report is devoted to what the Act really means to partnerships who intend to share crime mapping data. It gives instructions on exactly what is required to comply with the Act and a case study referred to by the Information Commissioner (formerly the Data Protection Commissioner) as best practice is given.
The analytical tools available to practitioners are briefly sketched out together with what information these tools can provide. In the final section the author examines the costs of setting up a mapping and data sharing scheme and gives a case study from the London Borough of Southwark Crime & Disorder Partnership.
Download the report Data Exchange & Crime Mapping, 
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Last update: Monday, July 21, 2008