SpaceTimeLab

On the 19th November, Monsuru Adepeju of SpaceTimeLab presented his recent research at the Geospatial Science Seminar Series in the UCL Geography Department. Details are as follows:

Title

Space-Time Pattern Analysis of Big Crime Datasets: Hotspots Detection for Predictive Policing

Abstract

Predicting where and when crime is likely to occur is an important aspect of police operation, especially toward the end of effective deployment of limited police resources. Crime hotspot detection is generally used, relying on historical crime datasets,  to produce patterns of crime over large temporal steps such as monthly or seasonally. These patterns are then used to project the locations where crimes are likely to occur in near future at the same or larger scales. However, the use of large temporal scales are not suitable for proactive day-to-day crime intervention, especially at the local level.  In this study, we combine both the global and local approach of hotspots detection to proactively identify areas of consistently high crime concentration at a finer temporal scale, i.e. daily, over a certain period of time. This approach provides better visualisation and profiling of crime patterns for better predictive policing.