The Use of Computerized Crime Mapping by
Law Enforcement
https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/fs000237.pdf
Who uses crime mapping?
The majority of the departments surveyed engage in
some form of crime analysis with most (73 percent)
conducting analyses to fulfill Uniform Crime Report
(UCR) requirements and approximately half (52 percent)
calculating statistical reports of crime activity. Only 261
(13 percent) of the departments surveyed, however,
currently use any computerized crime mapping. As
expected, larger departments (with more than 100 sworn
officers) were more likely to use this technology (36
percent) than were smaller departments (3 percent). The
average length of time that departments reported having
used crime mapping was 3.3 years.
Most departments (75 percent) that use crime mapping
reported that crime analysis staff are primarily responsible
for performing computerized queries. Few patrol officers
(9 percent) use crime mapping, but this number should
increase over time because it has been shown to be a
valuable tool in community policing and problem solving.3
Within smaller departments, however, it appears that
mapping responsibility is more evenly distributed across
several staff positions, including crime analysts, investigators, patrol officers, and dispatch staff.