[Freegis-list] GIS for Crime Statistics

[Adrian Custer]

How to lie with maps 101:

I hope you are not going to claim that you are mapping "crime" unless
you include the graft, corruption, embezzlement, perjuries and the other
upper class crimes in that great capital city. DC, and its cigar smoking
forces of repression, is famous for talking up all the crimes committed
by the poorer segments of society. Then, those crimes are labelled
"crime" or "violent crime" so as to get citizens believing that the
crimes of the poorer segments of society are the crimes to worry about.
No doubt they will gladly feed you the relevant statistics as they
hassle and insult the homeless while chomping on big fat cigars. (Yes, I
had a wonderfully peaceful experience watching the "peace" officers
during my last visit.)

So enjoy the free software for your political goals whatever they may
be, but don't be surprised if people like me throw labels out at the
sites that purport to map "crime" and merely map "maps that help keep
the system of violent repression strong."

best of luck to do this well,
adrian


On Thu, 2003-01-16 at 11:14, Knox McIlwain wrote:
> Dear FreeGIS Community -
> 
> I am looking for a simple, web-based GIS system that I can use to map crime
> statistics by location, date, time of day, and type of crime. I am new to
> GIS applications, and am somewhat overwhelmed by the options. Can anyone
> give me advice on which systems to pursue or groups I should contact?
> 
> I live in a neighborhood in Washington, DC that has seen a recent increase
> in crime. Many of the citizens - myself included - are actively working with
> the police and on our own to make our neighborhood safer. All of the crime
> GIS data that we want exists, but the DC government has failed to make it
> available in a useful manner. We can get paper reports, but not access to
> their GIS application (which they said they would make public, but never
> have). As many of you have heard, we have a barely functioning city
> government, so we are looking to ourselves for answers.
> 
> The most important thing we need to be able to do is identify "hot spots" of
> criminal activity and days or times of day when crime is more likely to
> occur. With this information we can better coordinate civilian patrols and
> present hard data to the police (who, in the absence of data, frequently
> tell us to leave them alone and let them do their job).
> 
> Any resources you could point me to for a GIS system I can use to plot and
> analyze crime data would be greatly appreciated and help make our
> neighborhood safer.
> 
> Respectfully,
> 
> - Knox McIlwain
> 
> PS - Please forgive me if my questions are newbie or off topic - if so, I
> will look elsewhere for advice.
> 
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