One of the most exciting developments in fighting crime at the turn of the twenty-first century has been the integration of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) into law enforcement, and includes crime analysis. This book provides an overview of the implementation and integration of GIS technology into various aspects of law enforcement, including important mapping concepts and their use in crime analysis. Crime mapping basics are discussed, including pin mapping, mapping «hot spots», mapping crime density, and creating briefing maps. Other topics include the integration of crime mapping with police decision-making, the use of various forms of spatial modeling in law enforcement, and integrating inter-agency data as part of a regional approach to crime. As a way of better understanding the practical applications, the authors include a list of police agencies providing real crime data and analysis tools on the World Wide Web.

The Authors: Irvin B. Vann is a doctoral candidate in public administration at North Carolina State University concentrating in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). His interests include GIS policy, research methods, organizational behavior, and ethics in the public sector. G. David Garson is Professor of Public Administration at North Carolina State University, where he teaches courses on Geographic Information Systems (GIS), information technology, e-government, research methodology, and American government. Professor Garson is author, co-author, editor or co-editor of seventeen other books and author or co-author of over fifty articles.