Responsibility of A Crime Analyst
The role of a crime analyst is to perform systematic analysis of information. The analysis of information is used in a variety of ways to address current crime problems as well as seek solutions to long existing crime situations. A crime analyst is also an information source for crime agencies, the press, and local community leaders. Crime analysts also serve as a connection point for national, regional and local crime intelligence information.
By examining daily police reports an analyst can find patterns or trends in local crimes within their communities. An example would be if there were two liquor store robberies using the same technique, a crime analyst’s function is to spot the similarities and alert law enforcement to warn or be aware of possible liquor store robberies. The analyst had spotted a trend.
Analysts can help with finding solutions to long term crime or safety problems. If a park or playground has experienced repeated problems at night with drugs or assaults over the years, the analyst can examine when these crimes have mostly occurred and assist with solutions such as recommending better lighting, increased patrols or closing the park or playground after dark.
A crime analyst is trained on how to gather and decipher existing information from varied sources and combine it and present it in a clear useful format for a particular purpose such as forecasting police manpower needs in the future. Analysts also provide local government leaders, journalists and the general populace with crime or incident statistics within their community.
The events of September 11, 2001 have created a new role for the crime analyst. Once primarily concerned with crime and incident reporting and information within their own local communities, analysts are much more involved with deciphering information passed along by national investigative agencies. As an example, if a national agency issues a bulletin to local law enforcement that possible terrorists have entered the country using forged passports from a certain country, a local analyst may spot the mention of such a passport in the police report regarding a local suspect. Today it is vital in providing national security, that such analysis and coordination take place between national security agencies and local law enforcement.
Crime analysts assist law enforcement by using existing data to identify trends and patterns in local crime, offer solutions to long term community crime problem areas, forecast future local law enforcement needs, serve as an information platform regarding criminal offenses and incidents for communities, and as a link between national security agencies and local law enforcement.
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