CCTV as a Tool for Early Police Intervention: Preliminary Lessons from Nine Case Studies.

This study explores the prospect of utilizing CCTV as an early intervention mechanism to detect and disrupt street-level activity that can lead to violence. The analysis focuses on nine case studies in Newark, NJ, incorporating data from several sources, including video footage, computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system incident data, CAD event chronologies and face-to-face interviews with CCTV operators. The findings suggest that the benefits offered by CCTV, namely the instantaneous discovery and reporting of crime, may be rendered incon- sequential by the process times associated with the differential-response policy of police dispatch. Potential methods by which police can more proactively utilize CCTV to prevent crime are discussed

Joint Utility of Event- Dependent and Environmental Crime Analysis Techniques for Violent Crime Forecasting

Violent crime incidents occurring in Irvington, New Jersey, in 2007 and 2008 are used to assess the joint analytical capabilities of point pattern analysis, hotspot mapping, near-repeat analysis, and risk terrain modeling. One approach to crime analysis suggests that the best way to predict future crime occurrence is to use past behavior, such as actual incidents or collections of incidents, as indicators of future behavior. An alternative approach is to consider the environment in which crimes occur and identify features of the landscape that would be conducive to crime. Thanks to advances in geographic information system technology and federally funded (free) software applications such as CrimeStat III or the Near Repeat Calculator, these methods have recently been made more accessible to “average” users. This study explores the information products that each method offers for the purposes of place-based violent crime forecasting and resource allocation. Findings help to answer questions about where, when, and why violent crimes occur in a jurisdiction. Ways in which event-dependent and environmental crime analysis techniques can be utilized as complementary instruments in a crime analyst’s tool kit are discussed in detail

Provider Insight on Surmounting Specialty Practice Challenges to Improve Tdap Immunization Rates among Pregnant Women

Background Pertussis, or “whooping cough,” is an acute, contagious pulmonary disease that, despite being vaccine-preventable, has become an increasingly widespread problem in the United States. As a result, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists updated recommendations stating clinicians should give a Tdap dose during every pregnancy, preferably at 27–36 weeks. Despite this recommendation, reported Tdap vaccine receipt rates during pregnancy vary from 16–61%, and previous studies have shown that clinician recommendation and vaccine administration are strongly associated with vaccine uptake among pregnant women. Methods Our aim was to inform new strategies to increase uptake of the Tdap vaccine among pregnant women and, ultimately, reduce pertussis-related morbidityand mortality in infants. We conducted interviewswith a sample of 24 ob-gyns. We subsequently performed grounded theory analyses of transcripts using deductive and inductive coding strategies followed by intercoder reliability assessment. Results All physicians interviewed were familiar with the most recent recommendation of giving the Tdap vaccine during the third trimester of every pregnancy, and the majority of physicians stated that they felt that the vaccine was important and effective due to the transfer of pertussis antibodies from the mother to the fetus. Most physicians indicated that they recommended the vaccine to patients during pregnancy, but not all reported administering it on site because it was not stocked at their practice. Implementation challenges for physicians included insurance reimbursement and other challenges (i.e., patient refusal). Tdap vaccinationduring pregnancy was a lower clinical priority for some physicians. Physicians recognized the benefits associated with Tdap vaccination during pregnancy. Conclusions Findings indicate while most ob-gyns recognize the benefits of Tdap and recommend vaccination during pregnancy, barriers such as insurance reimbursement and financial concerns for the practice can outweigh the perceived benefits. This resulted in some ob-gyns reporting choosing not to stock and administer the vaccine in their practice. Recommendations to address these concerns include 1) structural support for Tdap vaccine administration in ob-gyns practices; 2) Continuing medical education-equivalent educational interventions that address management techniques, vaccine coding, and other relevant information; and 3) interventions to assist physicians in communicating the importance of Tdap vaccination during pregnancy

Crime in Context: Utilizing Risk Terrain Modeling and Conjunctive Analysis of Case Configurations to Explore the Dynamics of Criminogenic Behavior Settings.

Risk terrain modeling (RTM) is a geospatial crime analysis tool designed to diagnose environmental risk factors for crime and identify the places where their spatial influence is collocated to produce vulnerability for illegal behavior. However, the collocation of certain risk factors’ spatial influences may result in more crimes than the collocation of a different set of risk factors’ spatial influences. Absent from existing RTM outputs and methods is a straightforward method to compare these relative interactions and their effects on crime. However, as a multivariate method for the analysis of discrete categorical data, conjunctive analysis of case configurations (CACC) can enable exploration of the interrelationships between risk factors’ spatial influences and their varying effects on crime occurrence. In this study, we incorporate RTM outputs into a CACC to explore the dynamics among certain risk factors’ spatial influences and how they create unique environmental contexts, or behavior settings, for crime at microlevel places. We find that most crime takes place within a few unique behavior settings that cover a small geographic area and, further, that some behavior settings were more influential on crime than others. Moreover, we identified particular environmental risk factors that aggravate the influence of other risk factors. We suggest that by focusing on these microlevel environmental crime contexts, police can more efficiently target their resources and further enhance place-based approaches to policing that fundamentally address environmental features that produce ideal opportunities for crime

Vulnerability and Exposure to Crime: Applying Risk Terrain Modeling to the Study of Assault in Chicago.

Prior research has applied risk assessment and spatial analysis techniques to the study of violence. This paper builds on those results, tying the practical outcomes of spatial risk analysis methods to broader spatial issues on the articulation of risky places for aggravated assault. We begin by conceptualizing key relationships, addressing the effects of environmental factors on creating distinct, identifiable areas that are conducive to crime. Propositions of the theory of risky places are posed and then empirically tested using a GIS based program, RTMDx, on aggravated assault data in an urban area. Given the current thinking about crime vulnerability based on concentration and spatial influence of features and events, this paper offers an analytical strategy to model risky places that combines the conceptual insights of crime emergence and persistence, advances in geo-spatial analytical techniques, and micro-level data

How the physical landscape of the urban environment affects drug dealing

Many illegal drugs are sold in open air markets on the street. But what determines where drug transactions take place? In new research, Jeremy D. Barnum, Walter L. Campbell, Sarah Trocchio, Joel M. Caplan, and Leslie W. Kennedy examine how drug dealers and buyers can take advantage of features of the urban environment in Chicago to find more effective places to make drug deals. Assessing 28 of these environmental features, they find that drug deals were much more likely to take place near to foreclosures, problem landlords and broken street lighting. They write that their findings could be used to inform more place-based policing strategies aimed at tackling drug markets

The Financial Implications of Merging Proactive CCTV Monitoring and Directed Police Patrol: A Cost-Benefit Analysis.

Objectives: This study presents a cost–benefit analysis of an intervention pairing proactive CCTV monitoring with directed police patrol in Newark, NJ. A recent randomized control trial found that the strategy generated significant crime reductions in treatment areas relative to control areas. The current study focuses on the financial implications of the experimental strategy through a cost–benefit analysis. Methods: The study begins by measuring the costs and benefits associated with the experimental strategy, the findings of which can inform agencies with existing CCTV infrastructure. Follow-up analyses measure the costs and benefits of the intervention for agencies absent existing CCTV infrastructure, meaning a CCTV system would have to be funded in addition to the intervention outputs. Alongside overall benefits, this study presents the tangible cost savings afforded to the Criminal Justice system as well as to each of the separate criminal justice (CJ) system components: Policing, Courts, and Corrections. Results: We found the experimental strategy to be highly cost effective for agencies with existing CCTV infrastructure. However, when the cost of the CCTV system is considered, the strategy is largely cost prohibitive. While the cumulative societal and criminal justice findings suggest some evidence of a modest cost savings, the strategy is highly cost prohibitive for each of the individual CJ system components when CCTV system costs are included. Conclusions: Results suggest that the experimental strategy is a worthwhile investment for agencies with existing CCTV infrastructure. Agencies absent CCTV may want to consider whether funds would be better allocated towards alternate strategies

Formation of a TBX20-CASZ1 protein complex is protective against dilated cardiomyopathy and critical for cardiac homeostasis

By the age of 40, one in five adults without symptoms of cardiovascular disease are at risk for developing congestive heart failure. Within this population, dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) remains one of the leading causes of disease and death, with nearly half of cases genetically determined. Though genetic and high throughput sequencing-based approaches have identified sporadic and inherited mutations in a multitude of genes implicated in cardiomyopathy, how combinations of asymptomatic mutations lead to cardiac failure remains a mystery. Since a number of studies have implicated mutations of the transcription factor TBX20 in congenital heart diseases, we investigated the underlying mechanisms, using an unbiased systems-based screen to identify novel, cardiac-specific binding partners. We demonstrated that TBX20 physically and genetically interacts with the essential transcription factor CASZ1. This interaction is required for survival, as mice heterozygous for both Tbx20 and Casz1 die post-natally as a result of DCM. A Tbx20 mutation associated with human familial DCM sterically interferes with the TBX20-CASZ1 interaction and provides a physical basis for how this human mutation disrupts normal cardiac function. Finally, we employed quantitative proteomic analyses to define the molecular pathways mis-regulated upon disruption of this novel complex. Collectively, our proteomic, biochemical, genetic, and structural studies suggest that the physical interaction between TBX20 and CASZ1 is required for cardiac homeostasis, and further, that reduction or loss of this critical interaction leads to DCM. This work provides strong evidence that DCM can be inherited through a digenic mechanism

Is the Punishment More Certain? An Analysis of CCTV Detections and Enforcement

The primary preventive mechanism of CCTV is considered to be deterrence. However, the relationship between CCTV and deterrence has been left impli- cit. Empirical research has yet to directly test whether CCTV increases the certainty of punishment, a key component of the deterrence doctrine. This study analyzes CCTV’s relation to punishment certainty in Newark, NJ. Across eight crime categories, CCTV and 9-1-1 calls-for-service case processing times and enforcement rates are compared through Mann-Whitney U and Fisher’s Exact tests, respectively, with a Holm-Bonferroni procedure correcting for multiple comparisons. ANOVA and negative binomial regression models further analyze the frequency of CCTV activity and the impact of various factors on the (downward) trend of detections and enforcement. Findings suggest that CCTV increases punishment certainty on a case-by-case basis. However, a reduction of CCTV activity caused by specific “surveillance barriers” likely minimized the effect of the enhanced enforcement