90 research outputs found
Early Identification of Violent Criminal Gang Members
Gang violence is a major problem in the United States accounting for a large
fraction of homicides and other violent crime. In this paper, we study the
problem of early identification of violent gang members. Our approach relies on
modified centrality measures that take into account additional data of the
individuals in the social network of co-arrestees which together with other
arrest metadata provide a rich set of features for a classification algorithm.
We show our approach obtains high precision and recall (0.89 and 0.78
respectively) in the case where the entire network is known and out-performs
current approaches used by law-enforcement to the problem in the case where the
network is discovered overtime by virtue of new arrests - mimicking real-world
law-enforcement operations. Operational issues are also discussed as we are
preparing to leverage this method in an operational environment.Comment: SIGKDD 201
Cognitive and emotional stressors of child homicide investigations on UK and Danish police investigators
In a previous paper, key differences in the form and manifestation of cognitive and emotional stress experienced by investigators of adult and child homicide were identified, along with a cursory look at how investigators commonly deal or cope with these effects. In this paper, the findings from eleven interviews with UK and Danish police officers with experience of investigating both adult and child homicides, suggest that child homicide investigations can have a profoundly different effect on police investigators that can vary between officers. The effects experienced and coping strategies employed were similar among officers in Denmark and the UK, and these included becoming more emotionally closed and engaging in regular sport and exercise. The findings hold important implications for police training and for the welfare of current and future police homicide investigators particularly where the victim is a child
Where bias begins: a snapshot of police officersâ beliefs about factors that influence the investigative interview with suspects
The aim of the current study was to obtain a snapshot of police officerâs beliefs about factors that may influence the outcome of the investigative interview with suspects. We created a 26-item survey that contained statements around three specific themes: best interview practices, confessions and interviewee vulnerabilities. Police officers (Nâ=â101) reported their beliefs on each topic by indicating the level of agreement or disagreement with each statement. The findings indicated that this sample of officers held beliefs that were mostly consistent with the literature. However, many officers also responded in the mid-range (neither agree nor disagree) which may indicate they are open to developing literature-consistent beliefs of the topics. Understanding what officers believe about factors within the investigative interview may have implications for future training. It may also help explain why some officers do not consistently apply best practices (i.e. strong counterfactual beliefs) versus officers who reliably apply literature-consistent practices to their interviews (i.e. knowledge-consistent beliefs).This research is supported by a fellowship awarded from the Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate Program, The House of Legal Psychology (EMJD-LP) with Framework Partnership Agreement (FPA) 2013-0036 and Specific Grant Agreement (SGA) 2015-1610 awarded to Nicole Adams.Published onlin
Planning Ahead? An Exploratory Study of South Korean Investigatorsâ Beliefs About Their Planning for Investigative Interviews of Suspects
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Hunting patterns and geographic profiling of white shark predation
Predators can play important roles in structuring their communities through topâdown effects on the distribution and abundance of their prey. Sharks are top predators in many marine communities, yet few studies have quantified those factors influencing their distribution and hunting behaviour. Here, we use location data from 340 predatory interactions between white sharks Carcharodon carcharias (Linnaeus), and Cape fur seals Arctocephalus pusillus pusillus (Schreber), data on associated environmental factors, and spatial analysis, including a novel application of geographic profiling â a tool originally developed to analyse serial crime â to investigate spatial patterns of shark attack and search behaviour at Seal Island in False Bay, South Africa. We found that spatial patterns of shark predation at this site are nonrandom. Sharks appear to possess a wellâdefined search base or anchor point, located 100âm seaward of the seal's primary island entryâexit point. This location is not where chances of intercepting seals are greatest and we propose it may represent a balance among prey detection, capture rates, and competition. Smaller sharks exhibit more dispersed prey search patterns and have lower predatory success rates than larger conspecifics, suggesting possible refinement of hunting strategy with experience or competitive exclusion of smaller sharks from the most profitable hunting locations. As many of the features of this system will be common to other instances of foraging, our conclusions and approach employed may have implications and applications for understanding how large predators hunt and for studying other predatorâprey systems
Investigating Sherlock Holmes: Using Geographic Profiling to Analyze the Novels of Arthur Conan Doyle
It's no riddle, choose the middle: the effect of number of crimes and topographical detail on police officer predictions of serial burglars' home locations.
This study examines the effect of the number of crimes and topographical detail on police officer predictions of serial burglarsâ home locations. Officers are given 36 maps depicting three, five, or seven crime sites and topographical or no topographical details. They are asked to predict, by marking an X on the map, where they thought each burglar lived. After making their predictions on half of the maps, officers randomly receive either no training or training in one of two simple decision-making strategies. The accuracy of predictions at baseline and retest is measured as the distance between the predicted and actual home locations, and these accuracy scores are compared to a commonly used geographic profiling system. Results show that training significantly improved predictive accuracy, regardless of the number of crime locations or topographical detail presented. In addition, trained participants are as accurate as the geographic profiling system
Economic profiling of the lone wolf terrorist: can economics provide behavioral investigative advice?
Economics has long had a theory of 'crime and punishment.' This theory provides predictions about the effects of law enforcement activity on criminals' actions but can it provide investigative advice? This paper extends the theoretical framework by identifying the possibility of 'economic profiling' of criminals and terrorists. Investigative psychologists attempt to derive the characteristics of offenders from the characteristics of the crime to develop an offender profile. The assignment of individuals to a 'class' involves the application of a classification scheme or typology. If the characteristics of a crime can be assigned to a particular type, the offender will have certain characteristics. This may assist law enforcement in identifying and finding the offender. A logical extension of the expected utility analysis of crime and terrorist behavior is the development of a methodology of economic profiling based upon an economic-behavioral typology of criminal and terrorist behavior. It is the purpose of this paper to provide some first steps in the development of such a framework. These first steps are cast in the context of an investigative economist seeking to develop an economic profile of a lone wolf terrorist
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