Example

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Partnerships have often simply used the committed from time or the committed to time to describe times of day when property crimes occur. This can create misleading results as these times usually reflect human behaviour patterns (e.g. when a person left their house to go to work and when they returned). Analysis of residential burglary in the London Borough of Croydon revealed that if the committed from time was used, peaks in residential burglary tended to occur between 8.00-10.00 and 12.00–13.00. If the committed to time was used, then the main peak that was between 17.00-20.00.

Graph 1 Committed from time. 

Graph 2. Committed to time.

The weighted time method uses probabilities to explain peaks in the times of day when crimes occur where a time range exists. Using this method, patterns during the day when residential burglaries occurred could more accurately be identified (see graph 3). This information can then contribute to helping in the design of residential burglary reduction initiatives and the deployment of patrols over shifts.

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