SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF CRIME HOT-SPOT IN THE NORTHEAST PENANG ISLAND DISTRICT AND KUCHING DISTRICT, MALAYSIA

Over time, the relation between criminal acts with drug abuse cases has been discussed pedantically. From social and spatial points of view, this paper aims to determine the hot spot areas of burglary cases in the Northeast Penang Island District and Kuching District. The gained results of burglary cases are then being correlated with the presence of drug abuse cases. Both study areas came with location coordinates of the incident based on police stations boundaries and police station sector boundaries from the year 2015. The type of analysis used for this research is Optimized Hot Spot Analysis. Results for burglary cases of both areas are divided into two (2) which are daytime and nighttime. The spatial analysis revealed that there are five (5) sectors identified as hot spots for the Northeast Penang Island District which involve Jelutong Police Station boundary and Ayer Itam Police Station boundary, while none of the areas identified as hot spot areas in Kuching District.

GIS and Crime Analysis

Spatial analysis of crime has gained increasing attention during the past thirty years, coupled with the growth of geographic information systems (GIS). Most crime analysis tasks are either carried out in a GIS environment or supported by a GIS. GIS is typically used as a tool for data management, data processing, data visualization, and data analysis for crime studies. Crime analysis normally involves the following elements: uncovering spatio-temporal patterns of crime distribution, such as crime hotspots; explaining these patterns and discerning major contributing factors based on multivariate regression modeling; predicting future crime patterns using machine learning and other predictive methods; developing crime prevention approaches based on historical and future crime patterns; and evaluating the effectiveness of crime prevention, to find out if crime is reduced in the targeted area and whether the nearby areas are affected by the intervention. It should be noted that crime analysis is inherently multidisciplinary, including but not limited to geography, criminology, computer science, statistics, urban planning, and sociology. Therefore, an effective crime analyst should be well trained in multiple disciplinary approaches. Any crime analysis that leads to real-world impact must rely on sound theories and effective methodologies. Many of the theories covered in this article are related to geography, criminology, and sociology. The methods are mostly influenced by GIS, spatial statistics, and artificial intelligence. Crime analysis also involves multiple stakeholders, including at least government agencies, universities, and private companies. Universities conduct basic and applied research, private companies convert the research to products, and government agencies provide funding for research and implement crime prevention strategies. In addition, crime analysis needs to pay close attention to potential issues related to ethics, privacy, confidentiality, and discrimination.

Crime against Businesses: Temporal Stability of Hot Spots in Mexicali, Mexico

In developing countries, crime is a serious problem that affects the operation and viability of firms. Offenses such as vandalism, robbery, and theft raise the operating costs of firms and imposes on them indirect costs. The literature on spatial analysis of crime is vast; however, relatively little research has addressed business crime, especially in developing countries’ cities. Spatial and temporal analysis of crime concentration represents a basic input for the design and implementation of appropriate prevention and control strategies. This article explores the spatial concentration and stability of thefts committed against commercial establishments in the city of Mexicali, Mexico, from 2009 to 2011 using the Gini coefficient, Lorenz curve, and decile maps. Results revealed that thefts were highly concentrated in a small percentage of urban basic geostatistical areas. Moreover, a portion of these areas were classified as having the highest deciles of thefts (hot spots) and remained in this group throughout the period. In both cases, the relationship between crime and place was close to the 80/20 rule, or the Pareto principle.

SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF CRIME OCCURRENCE IN VARIOUS REGIONS OF IRAN WITH AN EMPHASIS ON SAFETY

Safety is a basic issue in every social system and communities consider safety as one of their main priorities. One of the most important factors that put the safety of various communities at risk is the threats caused by crime occurrence. This paper is aimed to spatially analyze crime occurrence in various regions of Iran with an emphasis on safety. The research method is descriptive-analytical and a documentary and library data collection method is used. In this paper, the Similarity, COPRAS, mean rank method, and cluster analysis method are applied. The final results of the cluster analysis based on the mean rank method indicate a wide gap between the provinces of the country in terms of survey indicators, so that the final coefficient obtained for the provinces in the sixth cluster (the most unsafe group) is about 45 times of the final coefficient of the provinces in the first cluster (the safest group).

Border disorder: On urban boundary work and crime in the divided city

This article offers exploration of one spatial aspect of crime in the divided city: the disproportionate concentration of crime events along Jerusalem’s former socio-historical border (known as ‘Green Line’) that is clearly reflected in a spatial analysis of crime. Offering insight into this phenomenon, an ethnographic investigation reveals the manner in which neighbourhood residents cope with crime by blocking entry to it from the east, thereby reinforcing and reproducing already existing urban divisions. This second, qualitative layer of research enables us to follow urban boundary work in action, which is important, as focusing on boundary work (as opposed to borders) offers insight not only into divided cities as fact but into the mechanisms, logic and culture that reproduce and reshape their urban divisions. In contrast to hegemonic analyses that highlight the importance of macro-politics in shaping the lines that divide the divided city, this article considers crime, and the way residents struggle against it from below, as a central mechanism that reinforces and reproduces the divisions of the divided city.