The use of Geographic Information Systems by crime analysts in England and Wales RDS OLR 03/07


This report presents findings from a survey of crime analysts designed to assess the extent to which Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are being used by crime analysts in police forces and Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs). GIS provide the basis for crime mapping analyses which have been shown to be a valuable approach to help police and other community safety practitioners to better understand the crime and disorder problems they face and to help develop approaches to tackle them.

Results indicate fairly widespread use of crime mapping techniques, but also highlight a number of areas for further development. The provision of GIS training was identified by many respondents as being insufficient, as was the availability of high quality data suitable for effective crime mapping analysis. Survey finding suggest that that GIS tended to be used extensively for descriptive analysis and to a lesser extent for explanatory, problem-solving analysis.