CHAPTER FOUR: REGIONALIZATION

Because geographic information systems constitute a considerable implementation challenge in terms of resources, training, and administrative burden, small jurisdictions may well need to consider some method of pooling crime mapping resources on a regional basis. Multiple jurisdictions may be able to fund GIS-trained crime analysis staff if cooperative data-sharing agreements can be reached to pool incident and other law enforcement data so regional staff can generate appropriate maps serving constituent jurisdictions. The policy implication is that the Governor's Crime Commission or other leadership agencies should take steps to identify a Council of Government or other regional entity suitable to undertake a regionalization demonstration experiment.

As the Winston-Salem, NC, respondent noted, regionalization raises many policy controversies but is nonetheless a desirable long-term goal:

"You'd get into a lot of turf issues - who's going to manage it, and who's going to be accountable to it, but I would embrace regionalization if I was in a small community, I would embrace that and really push regional information because that's going to benefit everybody in the entire community."

Larger jurisdictions have long known the advantages of inter-jurisdictional coordination, as was clearly articulated by Sgt. Ron Rasmussen of the Seattle Police Department:

"We know the people that aren't committing crime in Seattle, are committing crime in these other agencies, and we routinely track them across borders. We are very fortunate that the county also has a very good central geographic database and if we have to we can geocode multiple jurisdiction crime into maps and take a look at these patterns across multiple jurisdictions. And we've got all our cooperation from those other jurisdictions. We routinely meet with them. I think we all use the same software and to a large degree, all work off the same geographic basis. So it's pretty easy to extend our reach to these other agencies and provide support to them."

Sgt. Rasmussen also made an important point regarding the economic value of cooperation:

"I think if you group these agencies together, you're going to be much more effective at detecting the crime patterns, detecting crimes that go on, looking at the movement of offenders within your environment, but you're also going to do a lot better job as far as, economies of scale go and getting, you know, the funding that you need. You know, it's a lot easier for everybody to chip a little bit in, and they get something going, than it is to have everybody completely fund their own development."

The importance of funding agencies supporting regional approaches to crime mapping was a common theme in our interviews. This was illustrated by the Redlands, CA, interview. When asked what would be recommended to funding agencies, this respondent answered:

"Devote some money to a regional effort, being able to share data across lines, being able to have some way that different agencies' data sets can be combined and cleaned, and you can really track the offenders from city to city."

A major contemporary regionalization effort is SCAMP, the Statewide Crime Analysis and Mapping Program of the Massachusetts State Police. After a 1998 survey revealed for jurisdictions under 50,000 population, only 15% had GIS operations compared to 58% for larger jurisdictions, efforts were undertaken at the state level to bring the benefits of crime mapping to smaller jurisdictions. To bypass problems of differential local operating systems and coding of offenses, SCAMP used the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS), used by the FBI as a replacement for current Uniform Crime Report data, but modifyied it to add street address information. Separate fields were added for street number, street name, additional address information (ex., apt. number), town name, and latitude and longitude. Still under development in 2000, SCAMP will use an Internet-based delivery system using the ESRI Internet Map Server (IMS). (See Bibel, 2000; contact Dan Bibel, Crime Reporting Unit, Massachusetts State Police, daniel.bibel@pol.state.ma.us). State police in Connecticut and New Hampshire are looking at SCAMP with a view toward possible regionalization of crime mapping in their states. The Kansas City Police Department also has a Regional Crime Mapping Policy Subcommittee with an initative for multijurisdictional crime mapping (McCoy, 2000; contact Carol McCoy, Lenexa, KS Police Department., cmccoy@lenexakanas.org). Finally, the Baltimore County Police Department currently works with the Department of Justice on a regional crime analysis GIS (RCAGIS).

The Case for Regionalization

Significant investment of resources

Crime mapping requires significant investments of time and money. If a jurisdiction is too small to devote at least one individual half-time to the considerable data collection, data cleaning and crime mapping functions required, frustration and even project failure may ensue. A single individual, burdened with many other functions not related to crime mapping, usually lacking in training and technical support, faces major challenges. Our respondent from New Haven, CT, noted:

"You have to start way in advance prepping your local funding resources ... that we need additional staff ... [who] do this most of their time, instead of doing other things." While it is feasible for an individual to learn the fundamentals of a package like ArcView on their own and to enter some data into it, the likely result is apt to be only demonstration pin maps rather than an ongoing crime mapping effort which observably impacts and improves departmental outcomes."

When GIS is cost prohibitive

Establishing a crime analysis unit complete with GIS computer mapping capabilities might be cost-prohibitive depending on the size of the community and its police requirements. One solution to this problem is to approach crime analysis from a regional standpoint with several jurisdictions sharing resources as well as data. As Chris Bruce our respondent in Cambridge, MA, said of the regionalization concept:

"I think it's a great idea. It's a difficult thing to implement, of course, given the systems and different data, and different records management that's being used by different departments, but I'm in favor of regional information sharing, not just for mapping, but for other types of uses as well."

Requirements of funding start-up

Many of our respondents mentioned they either started their GIS or sustain their GIS by applying for and receiving various types of grants. According to Sergeant Ron Rasmussen of the Seattle Police Department, many types of grants are seeking to foster a certain level of regionalization as part of their process:

"There's a number of technology grants that are out there, and I don't know how long those are going to go on, and, you know, if grant money is available, clearly, you know, the focus right now is clearly regionalization, on almost all the federal grants. They're looking to leverage this across a very broad spectrum, and a lot of times, in crime mapping, that's a good thing, because it's the county, or the state, that's maintaining the central geographic database, and, you know, jumping on board with that, that makes it really easy, and especially if you can get multiple jurisdictions in there."

Necessity of statewide information sharing

With regard to regionalization, Major Billy White of the Wilson, NC, Police Department shared a view of the future that suggests regionalization is something North Carolina cannot afford not to undertake:

"If the state doesn't start doing statewide information and sharing, we're going to be in big trouble. I mean, we've always had jurisdictional lines. The county does it, if it crosses this line. Wilson does it if it's inside this limit. And crime is too mobile. You talk about a global society now, and crime is the same way. It's not limited to Wilson, NC. The same things are happening in Rocky Mount, by the same people, that are happening in Raleigh or somewhere else. So it's probably something that we will have to start doing. By sharing this information with all the other agencies, and that takes, not multi-jurisdictional, I think, statewide and then beyond that."

Philip Canter of Baltimore County, Maryland represented the only jurisdiction that specifically calls itself a Regional Crime Analysis Unit. He added to the issues mentioned by Major White:

"I don't really think that size is a factor here. I think that it's important that everybody speaks the same language, that the people are collecting data, using standards and guidelines that would facilitate analysis and interpretation and help them to identify patterns and trends, regardless of whether or not it's within their town, or in neighboring jurisdictions."

Crime mobility

The mobility of crime is an issue today especially in a state like North Carolina that is networked with interstate highways that can act as high speed corridors for criminals. Although Chapel Hill, NC, and Durham, NC, are neighbors, Belinda Pridgen, the Durham crime analyst we interviewed, discussed the problem of mobile crime from the Durham perspective:

"But even regionally and just sharing the general, everyday information can be really helpful in solving crime ... Chapel Hill's crime rate, for example, went up last year, and the chief of police made the comment that Durham was pushing the criminals over there and that could be possibly true."

Canter mentioned the relevance of regionalization for small to medium jurisdictions:

"Assuming that they're small departments, they're lower density areas, maybe rural areas, it just seems to me that there's just a greater opportunity for offenders to travel from community to community, without being detected, and I think if a network were in place, that would serve as a way of at least alerting law enforcement in neighboring jurisdictions, for example, that, hey, somebody's going around, they're breaking into houses, this is their MO, keep an eye open."

Economies of scale

Canter also shared the same opinion as Sergeant Ron Rasmussen of Seattle in suggesting that regionalization will also promote economic savings in an era of very cost conscious taxpayers:

"I don't know if I mentioned it, but I'm just a strong proponent of regionalization, and I think that's regardless of any size police department, but if anything, just probably, a real strong need and justification for exploring and perhaps even implementing that type of environment for small police departments, only because, I guess, maybe economies of scale. It allows you to pool your resources, it allows you to do more with less."

Regional Structures

North Carolina has in place a system of regional government councils, Councils of Government (COG's), presently operating in support of local governments in their areas. Regions are important because many activities, including those related to law enforcement, commonly extend over a large geographical area that encompasses many jurisdictions. More and more people live in one place and work, engage in civic pursuits and pursue recreational and cultural activities across a number of other jurisdictions (see Svara, 1996). This is true of criminal activities as well. It is not possible for a single jurisdiction to deal effectively with problems like environmental protection, solid waste, traffic congestion, or crime. Crime especially is a problem that involves cross-jurisdictional mobility. Councils of Government are among the few existing regional structures with extensive GIS experience, though not yet mobilized on behalf of law enforcement problems.

With a more regional approach to analyzing crimes, police officers would be in a better position to detect patterns and to cooperate in the apprehension of highly mobile criminals. A respondent from Cambridge, MA, gave an example of fighting crime regionally:

"A regional mapping system ought to be part of the regional analysis system, so that you're able to map auto theft in your county. Not only can you map them, but you can go in and look at the individual cases and analyze those, the clusters that you find, for all the factors the who, what, when, where, and why, as well."

Multi-jurisdictional efforts must be centered on a set of commonly accepted goals (Green, 2000). North Carolina's regional councils are unique as places where officials from many jurisdictions can come together and discuss a wide range of common issues, including regional crime analysis. Regional councils in North Carolina have a generally positive record in filling certain major functions, including serving as regional forums, providing service and assistance to local governments, and operating data centers.

Most regional councils in North Carolina have GIS capacity yet none listed crime analysis as an application in a 1996 survey by Svara (1996). However, regional councils did report forming cooperative ventures with law enforcement agencies in three areas: coordinating and facilitating planning processes, writing and administering grants, and organization of various committee leadership teams. Regional councils have also demonstrated a capacity for flexibility in their relationship with law enforcement agencies by working on projects with counties outside their own region and in joint projects with other regional councils. This structure is ready-made for a GIS application.

Defining Regions

If North Carolina jurisdictions choose a regional approach to crime analysis based on actual cross-jurisdictional crime patterns, regions may not resemble political boundaries that we are familiar with. It may be efficient for regions to emerge from voluntary association of jurisdictions with each other rather than impose regional boundaries created for other purposes. When discussing regionalization, an immediate first questions is, how big is a region? When that particular question was asked of our Seattle interviewee, Sgt. Rasmussen suggested an empirical approach:

"I think you really need to look at the span, the span of movement of your average criminal to determine the size, the breadth that you might need to reach to get adequate coverage regionally."

Possible Regional Council Roles in Establishing Crime Analysis UnitsRegional councils can be instrumental in planning and development, implementation, production and output, and future planning with regard to efforts to establish a system for regional crime analysis (see Cope, 1998).

Planning and Development: Regional councils in their function of fostering discussion among jurisdictions in their regions can be instrumental in establishment of region wide-crime analysis. They can serve as the appropriate forum to identify crime mapping needs, set data management standards for crime mapping, and promote standardized software (Green, 2000). Councils can also contribute much in GIS-related efforts to research and grant writing. The planning and development aspects of regionalization were set forth by one of our respondents in Charlotte-Mecklenburg:

"I think it's an excellent opportunity for those small departments, because if you had someone working in isolation in the department, it's not going to be as effective as having a group of people that are coming together. Another thing is that it will erase those jurisdictional boundaries ... if you have a regional approach, then you can automatically, from the beginning set out to look at crime problems across jurisdictional boundaries, which is a huge task, and the more that you can coordinate efforts in the beginning, the further you probably will be able take that in the future..."

As pointed out by several respondents, a regional approach to GIS in crime analysis for any size region means that police departments are able to communicate in a common format. Having a common format for police reports will give jurisdictions a common platform for greater cooperation in limiting the mobility of crime. Belinda Pridgen, Durham's crime analyst, stated:

"… I think if we could see mapping, incidents occurring as they move from place to place and see the city to city, county to county, region to region, I think we'll be able to set up roadblocks, so to speak, to try to combat and stop it before it gets out of control. So, I really think it could be a useful tool. I think that we'd also have some problems in implementing it, same software, same integrated software. We use ArcView, but will Raleigh use MapInfo? I don't know, but I think it would be something that should be considered and actually pursued, because it's useful."

Implementation: Implementing a regional crime analysis function includes establishing common hardware, compatible software, and the personnel to support the operation. In regards to standardization across jurisdictions, regional councils may have an opportunity to serve a unique purpose. As one of the police supervisors we interviewed in Asheville, NC said:

"I think it can work, if it's done correctly. There's a lot of competition among agencies in a region, and while they may be well intended, you know, to try to work together, there are turf issues ... and, some agencies are better prepared to advance with technology than others, and there may be a perception that the county agency is holding the city agency back, or the reverse might also be true. We had talked about some independent regional authority of some sort, that might help to facilitate the development of a regional crime mapping."

Production and Output: Production and output defines what products the regional crime analysis unit will provide and on what schedule they will provide their services. While local agencies will continue to need the capacity to develop maps by special request for emerging local law enforcement issues, a regional approach can facilitate the development of regularly scheduled, standard crime maps and reports useful for analyzing crime patterns on a regional basis.

Future Planning: Once a regional crime analysis unit is established, the various components will require updating to keep current with technological developments in GIS and new developments in crime analysis itself. As the GIS Coordinator Monica Nguyen in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said:

" ... It's not just funding GIS from the beginning, but the maintenance issue ... keeping GIS up and running. Yes, it is an analytical tool, but it is a technology, and you can't forget that it's technology, which means hardware upgrades and software upgrades ... I think, the initial start-up is extremely important, but also, maybe, providing funding resources for continuing that type of function in a police department, and expanding on the role of GIS in the department ... "

A regional approach can help local jurisdictions stay on top of technological developments in crime mapping and crime analysis.

Chapter summary

Regionalization may be a means of sharing costs, experience, and expertise among jurisdictions that elect this strategy. Regionalization is also an appropriate response to the high mobility of crime in today's society. North Carolina's networks of regional councils already function as excellent sources of information on inter-jurisdictional collaboration, grant-writing and administration, and technical support based on their existing extensive experience in geographic information systems. Four possible roles for regional councils were outlined in this chapter as starting points for dialog among participants' explorations of regionalization in crime mapping.