Crime Analysis

Crime analysis is an essential component of criminal investigation, as well as an effective tool used in the philosophy of Community Policing. Crime prevention, to a large degree, is a responsibility of not only patrol officers, but is also the responsibility of the citizens living within the various neighborhood areas of the City of Milwaukie.

The prevention of crime is a symbiotic relationship between the community, the police department, and the City of Milwaukie. Crime analysis is a tool used to study crime patterns and trends, how they affect a certain area or neighborhood, and how to best respond to that pattern.

The person assigned to Crime Analysis enters information gleaned from crime reports, calls for service, arrest reports, and intelligence data. The data is processed and the Analyst searches for trends or patterns. This information is then used to develop strategies and tactics to address the problem. Analysis of crime patterns involves the consideration of many factors, such as offender and victim characteristics, modus operandi, days/time periods/geography, and environmental factors.

With this information the Analyst can try to forecast the date, time, and possible locations of similar crimes that have not yet occurred. This is why the police department encourages citizens to report crime incidents. Oftentimes citizens discover they were the victims of theft or vandalism, but did not report the incident to police.

The citizens may have thought the incident wasn’t a serious enough matter to ‘bother’ the police. Patrol officers want and need this information, otherwise they are unaware a certain neighborhood is experiencing a livability or safety issue.