Interactive Crime Analysis Toolkit
The Crime Research Group (CRG) has developed a suite of interactive crime analysis applications designed to help law enforcement agencies better understand and use their own data. These tools demonstrate how incident-level records can be transformed into meaningful visualizations that support operational decision-making, strategic planning, and problem-oriented policing.
The toolkit includes three complementary applications:
- Crime Analysis Report – An interactive report that summarizes key findings and demonstrates common analytical techniques for examining calls for service, incident characteristics, temporal patterns, repeat contacts, and other measures of police activity.
- Interactive Graphs and Tables – A collection of dynamic charts and searchable tables that allow users to filter and explore data by call type, time period, location, and other variables. These visualizations make it easy to identify trends, compare categories, and answer common operational questions.
- Interactive Mapping – A web-based mapping application that displays incidents geographically, allowing users to identify hotspots, examine spatial patterns, and explore police activity throughout the community. Interactive filtering and pop-up information provide additional context for each location.
Together, these applications illustrate how routinely collected law enforcement data can be converted into actionable information without requiring advanced programming or commercial crime analysis software. They also serve as practical examples for agencies interested in developing their own crime analysis capabilities using open-source tools such as R, Quarto, Shiny, and Google Maps.
The applications are intended as training and demonstration resources and accompany CRG's Crime Data Analysis Guide, which provides step-by-step instructions and reusable code that agencies can adapt to analyze their own records.