Criminal behavior, more often than not, follows patterns. When law enforcement agencies can recognize these patterns, not only are they able to find the source of the problem, they are also able to take preventive measures to protect the communities they serve. GIS enables the integration and analysis of data collected on the streets, which helps law enforcement identify, apprehend, and prosecute suspects involved in crime. The technology is becoming a powerful crime fighting arsenal as analysts and commanders use it to produce an instant picture of crime distribution in a neighborhood, city, region, or state. The reports and tables that are traditionally used in law enforcement agencies are more effective when visually represented (mapped) to show crime patterns and how they change, the density of crime, and the relationship between crime patterns and other elements in the landscape, such as bank robbery patterns and freeway on-ramps, or home robberies and pawn shops.

GIS also helps law enforcement agencies with the multitude of tasks and challenges they face in their daily responsibility of protecting life and property while keeping the peace in their communities. Virtually every task and challenge has a geographic component. These tasks require both strategic and tactical planning in rapidly changing social, economic, and political environments. GIS provides a visual means of displaying the vast amounts of spatial data collected by law enforcement agencies, enabling them to make better, more informed decisions. It also enables agencies to do predictive modeling or forecasting to manage field assignments and investigative efforts and effectively plan for emergency response, determine mitigation priorities, analyze historical events, and predict future events.

More information about how GIS is helping law enforcement agencies is available at www.esri.com/lawenforce on the Web.