LEA 300: Crime Mapping in Law Enforcement

Law Enforcement Operations and Planning with Crime Mapping

• The course is titled LEA 300
• The notes are prepared by Joanne C.
• The notes cover various questions about the importance of crime mapping in law enforcement operations
• Crime mapping is a tool to manage and control crime in a specific region

Importance of Crime Mapping

• Crime mapping improves cooperation between the public and police, ensuring a reliable source of criminal information for the arrest of suspects and subsequent court trials
• Analysts are able to understand crime patterns and trends through spatial and temporal data, aiding resource allocation and criminal profiling
• Crime mapping allows researchers and practitioners to study crime patterns over time and space, examining offender mobility and serial offenses
• Crime mapping visualizes patterns and clusters of crimes, validating the street knowledge of patrol officers
• Crime mapping enables analysis to link unlike data sources based on commonalities

Concept of Crime Mapping

• Crime mapping uses geographic information systems to conduct spatial analysis within crime analysis.

Functions of Crime Mapping

• Crime mapping facilitates visual and statistical analyses of crime and other events in space
• Crime mapping enables the analysis of linking unlike data sources, based on commonalities
• Crime mapping allows the visualization of crime clusters by types of crimes

Crime Mapping Techniques

• Thematic mapping - portrays geographic patterns of a particular subject matter (theme) in a geographic area. This involves map symbols to visualize properties like temperature, language, and population.
• Non-graphical indicators - are global-level statistics that indicate the strength of spatial autocorrelation, but not its location. These indicators determine whether crime incidents are clustered or uniform. Examples include Moran's I, Geary's C statistic, and the Nearest Neighbor Index.
• Hot spots - areas with high crime intensity are visualized using maps and developed for researchers and analysts to examine relationships.
• Spatial regression - investigates the diversification of crime in space and identifies underlying causes, using data aggregated to smaller areas
• Geographic profiling - is an investigative technique that uses locations of connected series of crimes to determine likely locations of offenders

Crime Mapping Software

• Geographic Information System (GIS) is a computer system that analyzes and displays data connected to a specific location. GIS combines hardware and software to manage and visualize geographic data.

Police Operational Procedures (POP)

• Rule 4- Pre-Operational Clearance: No police operation shall commence without the Chief/Commander's approval. A pre-operational clearance is filed by the team leader, prior to conducting the operation, for approval from the concerned Police Unit Commander.
• Rule 5- Inter-Unit Coordination: Team Leaders of local police units operating outside their territorial jurisdictions need to coordinate with the Police Regional, Provincial, or City Police Office. Coordination can be made personally or through representatives. A Coordination Form should be filled in advance, unless circumstances prevent written formal coordination.
• Rule 6- Requirements for Police Operations: Police operations (arrest, search and seizure, checkpoints, roadblocks, demolition, and civil disturbance management) require a marked police vehicle, a Police Commissioned Officer (PCO) leading the operation, and personnel in prescribed police roles (e.g., Team Leader, Spotter, Spokesperson, Investigation sub-team, Search/Arrest sub-team, Security sub-team, Blocking/Pursuing sub-team).
• Rule 7- Use of Force During Police Operations: During actual police interventions, peaceful means (including megaphones and other similar instruments) should be used to influence offenders/suspects to stop or act peacefully.
• Rule 8- Use of Firearm During Police Operations: The application of this rule and procedure is not in the material and should be viewed in its entirety.
• Rule 9- Patrol Procedures: Procedures for spot checks, accosting, and pat-down searches are described. Officers identify themselves and present official documentation in an appropriate manner, maintaining caution and vigilance.
• Rule 10 - Spot Checks/Accosting and Pat-Down Searches: The procedures for conducting spot checks, accosting, and pat-down searches (including grounds for conducting such searches) are detailed.

PNP Strategic Focus for 2013

• The PNP had various strategic focuses for 2013 that centered around competence (policy reform review), organizational development (streamlining, standardizing, and leadership development), discipline (determining discipline level and mechanisms to fast track the resolution of administrative cases), and excellence (ICT-based administrative support systems, uniform redesign, and external communications).

Strategic Planning Process

• The process of Strategic Planning involves several steps including developing mission and objectives, diagnosing environmental threats and opportunities, assessing organizational strengths and weaknesses, generating alternative strategies, developing a strategic plan, developing a tactical plan, assessing results, and repeating the planning process.

Alternatives of Planning

• Alternatives are options or strategies that can be used to achieve goals and objectives. For example, to improve officer survival skills, police vehicles could be modified (Alternative 1) bullet-proof vests issued (Alternative 2) and using a computer-assisted dispatch system (Alternative 3)

Objectives of Police Planning

• Increasing chances of success by focusing on results
• Promoting analytical thinking and evaluation of alternatives
• Establishing a consistent framework for decision-making
• Shifting from reaction to action-oriented decision-making
• Modifying daily operational styles for future management
• Providing flexibility for decision-making
• Establishing a basis for measuring individual officer performance
• Increasing employee communication within the organization

Characteristics of a Good Police Plan

• Clearly defined objectives/goals
• Simplicity, directness, and clarity
• Flexibility
• Possibility of attainment
• Standards for operation
• Economy in resource use

Guidelines in Planning

• Focus on 5 W's and 1 H (What, Why, When, Where, Who, How)

Responsibilities in Planning

• External policy planning - Legislative Branch (assisting the legislature with police laws and ordinances)
• Internal policy planning - Central Police and other Chiefs of Police ensure objectives and mission fulfilment through planning, organizing, staffing, directing, coordinating, controlling, and budgeting to effectively utilize existing police policies and resources, overseeing day-to-day operations
• Roles of Police Planners (Executive Managers, Middle Managers, Supervisors, Patrol Officers)

Further Note

• Some topics are to be continued next year (2025)