Track: Emergency Management and Public Safety
A Comparison of Using Radial Versus Street Distance for Characterizing Crime around a Given Location
Elizabeth GroffMonica Alexander
As police departments adopt a community problem oriented policing philosophy, new methods of analysis for identifying problems and potential underlying causes are needed. Using GIS to describe what is happening around a particular location is a commonly asked question. The current methodology for answering this consists of using a buffer around the location to select all the crime events within a distance of the location and then summarizing their characteristics. But, are the events selected with this methodology the best ones or merely those within the radius? Previous research on crime patterns clearly indicated the link between crime patterns and urban form. Hence, the use of a method that travels out a certain distance along streets may produce a more informative collection of events than a simple radial search. This research tests the two methods and compares the output from each.
Elizabeth Groff
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department
601 E. Trade St.
Charlotte, NC 28202
USA
Telephone: 704-336-2749
Fax: 704-336-7799
E-mail: PDERG@mail.charmeck.nc.us