E-book Details GIS Role in Fighting Crime

American Sentinel University’s new e-book, GIS for Crime Analysis, Law Enforcement and Public Safety, profiles how GIS has become an effective new crime-fighting tool used by law enforcement agencies to uncover criminal patterns that would be otherwise impossible to identify. The complimentary e-book is available for download.

GIS technology merges and manages massive amounts of law enforcement data into geodatabases that instantly analyze, map and aggregate data and provide law enforcement agencies with actionable intelligence to fight crime.

Senior Cpl. D.J. Beaty, police GIS and geospatial analyst for the Dallas Police Department, is featured in the e-book and shares insight about how his use of GIS and geospatial analysis has improved the ability to fight crime to ensure public safety.

“Crime is not uniformly distributed and identifying high crime areas or hot spots is significant for strategic and tactical approaches for law enforcement agencies,” says Sr. Cpl. Beaty. “New situations require new strategies and solutions. GIS analysis helps law enforcement agencies prioritize and allocate resources to targeted areas to address specific criminal activity. By implementing a geographic approach to analyze crime, the Dallas Police Department can efficiently and effectively meet the challenge of reducing crime in our community.”

The advanced spatial analysis of crime data continues to change the ways in which modern policing occurs. GIS provides the geographic advantage for law enforcement agencies to combat crime by using computers, analysis and programming skills to make predictions based on proprietary algorithms.

GIS for Crime Analysis, Law Enforcement and Public Safety is aimed at law enforcement professionals whose organization or company plans to implement new or enhance existing GIS technology. The e-book provides valuable insight about why GIS is on forefront of cutting-edge technology, the Dallas Police Department’s successful use of GIS to combat crime and offers a guide for law enforcement professionals to enhance their educational and professional goals.

Topics include:

• Technology and Its Application
• Types of Users
• Training and Background

“As more law enforcement agencies embrace GIS, overall public safety can be enhanced through better crime prevention strategies, improved response times, interagency data sharing, cooperation and collaboration to ultimately see reduced crime rates through the community,” says Stephen A. McElroy, Ph.D., GIS program chair at American Sentinel University.  “GIS has opened a world of new tools for law enforcement and given practitioners in the field a way to advance their careers while making a significant contribution to public safety and order.”