Date of Award

7-2011

Document Type

Masters Capstone Project

Degree Name

M.S. in Geographic Information Science

Organizational Unit

College of Natural Science and Mathematics, Geography and the Environment

First Advisor

Steven Hick

Second Advisor

Andrew Goetz

Keywords

Denver, Colorado, Neighborhoods, Crime, Citizen calls, Police response

Abstract

The purpose of this project was to study crime in the City of Denver, Colorado and show how crime moves between neighborhoods over time. The study involved looking at crimes aggregated at the neighborhood level to determine how crime transitioned within the City of Denver from 2000 to 2010. The crime data was also compared with calls for service to determine how police activity and citizen reporting related to crime in the City of Denver. The results indicated that the City of Denver, while increasing in population from 554,636 in 2000 to 600,156 in 2010 had a reduction in the total number of reported crimes from 41,143 in 2000 to 37,340 in 2010 although there was fluctuation from year to year during this decade. The citizen and police response to crime indicated that at both the city and neighborhood level, increase in crime was typically coincident with an increase in citizen initiated calls for service, which resulted in a subsequent increase in police presence, quantified by police officer initiated calls for service. The resulting increase in police activity produced a reduced the number of crimes for the affected area, which coincided with a reduction in citizen calls. This suggests that calls for service initiated by a community are a leading indicator that crime is on the rise, and the subsequent police response reduces an area’s crime. This cause and effect relationship is evident at both the city and neighborhood level.

Copyright Date

7-1-2011

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

All Rights Reserved
All Rights Reserved.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

David Muenkel

Provenance

Received from author

File Format

application/pdf

Language

English (eng)

Extent

77 pgs

File Size

2.7 MB

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