PREFACE

The effective practices recommendations found in this report are not general precepts found in textbooks but rather reflect the practical experience of GIS staff and their supervisors and end-users in local law enforcement. The invaluable input of these individuals are reflected through the use of extensive excerpts from our interviews, quoted to show the real value of recommendations in real contexts. This project is based on extensive interviews with personnel in North Carolina jurisdictions known to be active in crime mapping, with experts at each of the twelve top-ranked crime mapping agencies nationally, and with a sample of other jurisdictions across the country based on volunteers from the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), Crime Mapping Research Center's Crimemap online discussion list's community of crime mapping experts.

Geographic information systems in law enforcement have the potential to prevent crime through better discernment and anticipation of crime patterns as they emerge in a community. GIS also has the potential to elevate law enforcement to a new community leadership role as crime databases are integrated with those in local planning, tax, education, transportation, and other agencies, and as crime mapping is discovered to be an effective tool for communication outreach and municipal planning tool. Perhaps even more important, GIS has the potential to promote community wellness through increasing community understanding of, and involvement in, deterrence of crime and in addressing the social problems underlying crime.

The implementation of GIS in law enforcement starts with thinking about crime mapping, proceeds to doing GIS, and stabilizes in efforts to expand and integrate GIS. This threefold sequence constitutes the organization of the remainder of this report. Part I is "Why Do GIS in Small and Medium Jurisdictions?" with chapters on the benefits of GIS, evidence of GIS effectiveness, why GIS is different in small and medium jurisdictions, and consideration of future regionalization of GIS efforts. Part II is "How to Do GIS in Small and Medium Jurisdictions," with chapters on start-up strategies, planning, training, technical support, and project evaluation. Part III is "Expanding and Stabilizing GIS," with coverage of stages of GIS development, developing an action plan, planning for permanent funding, and a concluding chapter.