Hot Spots and Audits

Places and times vary in the likelihood that they will host crime. It is useful to know about this variation for two reasons. First, knowing where and when crimes are likely to happen allows the police or others to be around to detect or prevent it. Second, the distribution of crime helps one understand its immediate causes.

A point that will be stressed throughout this toolkit is that crime hot spotting is in its infancy. Scientists and technicians are still debating the "standard" tests and procedures for hot spots. There is no correct or right way of locating a hot spot, but there plenty of wrong ways. The best approach to adopt may be to take the information contained here and try to avoid some of the more serious problems.

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