Abstract
Crime is a complex phenomenon. To understand the commission of crime, researchers must map both the temporal and the spatial processes involved. The current research combines a temporal method of analysis, Behaviour Sequence Analysis, with geospatial mapping, to outline a new method of integrating temporal and spatial movements of criminals. To show how the new method can be applied, a burglary scenario was used, and the movements and behaviours of a criminal tracked around the property. Results showed that combining temporal and spatial analyses allows for a clearer account of the process of a crime scene. The current method has application to a large range of other crimes and terrorist movements, for instance between cities and movements within each city. Therefore, the current research provides the foundation framework for a novel method of spatio-temporal analyses of crime.
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Notes
Clearly, real-world data are seldom so ‘clean’; however, the current paper is meant to outline the methodological approach, therefore, more detailed data were preferable.
In other crimes this may be a point at which a suspect is more easily apprehended; or in evacuation scenarios, this could be finding where bottle-necks occur etc.
There were no systematic differences between those participants that were Forensic Psychology students, and those that were not. Therefore, the sample was analysed as a whole. An alternative approach could have been to create a set of ‘dummy’ data (as in Keatley and Clarke 2019); however, to provide a somewhat more realistic dataset based on verbal reports (akin to witness statements), we used participants.
A floor plan was given to provide some consistency to participants’ accounts of crime sequences (otherwise, any number of different properties could be envisioned, and while this would be possible to group and analyse, it was deemed overly complex for the present study). While the floor plan does reduce ecological validity, it does allow for a clearer map to emerge, to show how Behaviour Tracking works. Again, the current article is meant to showcase the Behaviour Tracking method, rather than provide an explanation of burglary, per se.
In computer-generated illustrations the two diagrams can be animated and overlaid. This allows investigators to see global-level movements (between rooms, Fig. 3), and nested Behaviours within each room (Fig. 4). This would be akin to criminals moving between cities or countries (global movements) and actions within each city (nested Behaviours).
This is likely a caveat of providing participants with an inventory of each room, a priori; they knew beforehand that the bathrooms provided no items worth stealing. Obviously, in actual crimes, most burglars do not have this foreknowledge. However, this is a limitation of the current data, not the current method. Similarly, real-world data will provide many more nuances and pathways in the dataset (e.g. dogs, people being home etc.). This makes the analyses more complex; but, the basic approach outlined here remains the same.
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Keatley, D.A., Arntfield, M., Gill, P. et al. Behaviour tracking: using geospatial and behaviour sequence analysis to map crime. Secur J 34, 184–201 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41284-019-00216-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41284-019-00216-3