During its history, crime analysis, as a profession, has evolved greatly in its definition. But, I would define crime analysis, or criminal intelligence analysis, as a law enforcement function that describes analytical means and procedures followed in studying criminal activities, and trend correlations, the way they impact a certain jurisdiction, and how police agencies handle them. Information on trends can assist law enforcers to allocate resources effectively, and help detectives in spotting and arresting criminal individuals. Crime analysis is also involved in developing techniques to curb crimes, and making crime-fighting strategies.
Crime analysis is the function of crime analysts who are professionals recruited from all levels of law enforcement. It is the work of crime analysts to assess the basics of a crime (an offender, a victim, and the location) and give an analytical product which is used to handle such offenses and assist incarcerate the offenders, and the accomplice (International Association of Crime Analysts 2004).
Just like policy analysts, claim analysts, market analysts, or stock analysts, crime analysts provide information (though in this case to law enforcers about crime, disorder, police activity, calls for service), all intending to assist the agencies to undertake their work effectively. The crime analysis process applies quantitative data analysis techniques, for instance, detectives reports are studied using narratives. However, I think there is some misunderstanding on the purpose of a crime analyst. Some see it as the role of a crime analyst to go to the crime scene and carry out an investigation, but this is the work of criminalists or detectives.
So why analyze crime?
- It helps to optimize the utilization of scarce law enforcement resources
- To inform the law enforcement agencies on the general and particular crime patterns and series in a continuous and timely manner
- To have an objective means to access crime problems locally, regionally, statewide, nationally, and globally within and between police agencies
- To be proactive in detecting and curbing criminal activities
- To achieve the law enforcement demands of an evolving society
- Crime analysis gives vital information to the judicial system, which assists in giving evidence pertinent to a given case, and information that criminals can be brought to book and convicted.
- Crime analysis at the corrections level assists law enforcers in detailed inclusive documentation of prisoners, parolees, and those pardoned, to help them avoid conviction of the innocent.
Crime analysis can take place at four different levels. There is tactical, administrative, police operational, and strategic crime analysis, but we will look into the strategic crime analysis.
Strategic crime analysis is intended at adopting operational strategies and seeking resolutions to enduring predicaments. It describes the trend correlations, predicaments, and impacts. Strategic analysts examine the long-term seasonal positive and negative variations in criminal activities or variances in traits of crime. These trends show the direction of movement of criminal activities and reveal variations in crime incidences in a given jurisdiction or geographical location. Thus, help law enforcement agencies to monitor unusual criminal activities over particular limits or given seasons or time.
It identifies unusual society situations and enables the law enforcers to be more effective and efficient by corresponding the expectations of their job with a mode of delivering services. This analysis subdues and eradicates persistent predicaments, and helps in community policing or “community-oriented policing.”
Strategic crime analysis provides information to crime prevention officers, community-oriented policing officers, planning and research, and community outreach programs. The strategic crime analysts and these groups coordinate in identifying the entire trends in certain jurisdictions of crime, create an action plan to address any problems, and coordinate to decrease the overall crime in given regions, developments, complexes, or generally in the jurisdiction.
The strategic analysis aims at providing information for functional decision-making to managers or policymakers, to alert and support the managerial decision takers in coming up with strategies to organize their institutions to be able to deal with any dangers posed by rising crimes. This is done by allocating resources to curb criminal activities, scheduling patrols, improving crime-mitigating processes, or distracting the criminal groups (International Association of Crime Analysts 2004).
Though financial achievement is not the main objective of public sector agencies, particularly law enforcers, strategic crime analysts work towards a sustainable goal, that is, the entire eradication of criminal groups. Strategic crime analysts give “exception reports” which inform on the “exception,” the continuing trend in certain criminal activities categories, victim categories, or target locations. Any deviation from the norm will be the focus of “exception” reports.
Reference
International Association of Crime Analysts. (2004). Exploring crime analysis. Overland Park, KS: IACA.