Because GIS makes it easy for everyone to see what is happening… it enables us to focus on specific issues and make decisions about what we can do, as a partnership, to ease the situation.
Emily Humphreys
Partnership Data Analyst
The Worcestershire Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) is comprised of representatives from the police, fire service, probation service, chamber of commerce and voluntary organisations such as the Neighbourhood Watch. CSPs primarily work together on crime reduction initiatives
CSPs are required to produce Crime and Disorder Audits every two to three years. This proved to be very challenging for the newly formed CSPs as they did not have the range of analytical skills or the capacity to pull together detailed reports with the required depth of information.
Worcestershire County Council had recently migrated to ArcGIS Server, delivering new capabilities. With data now accessible to partners and the ability to create web-based maps, information could easily be shared with the CSPs. Data from multiple sources is combined and CrimeAnalyst is used to map and analyse the geographic nature of incidents, often revealing complex patterns and trends.
Worcestershire's CSPs are now able to interpret data, highlighting problem areas and then act upon it. For example, having reviewed map based evidence of criminal damage after pub closure, a decision was made to locate taxi ranks closer to the town centre, helping to disperse people more quickly and reduce the number of crime incidents. GIS is a critical tool, helping Worcestershire's CSP's to evaluate initiatives and ultimately reduce crime.
Sharing data to reduce crime
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