BOONE—Push pins and maps have given way to computer screens and GIS mapping as the way for law enforcement officers to track crime.

Matthew Robinson, a professor in the Department of Government and Justice Studies at Appalachian State University, has coauthored the book “Crime Mapping and Spatial Aspects of Crime” published by Allyn & Bacon/Prentice Hall. Robinson’s coauthor is Derek J. Paulsen, a former professor at Appalachian who now teaches at Eastern Kentucky University.

Now in its second edition, the book was written for people who are interested in crime mapping software and technology as well as the theory and applied applications of crime mapping. It is being used in upper-level undergraduate and graduate college courses as well.

“The research is really booming,” Robinson says of crime mapping. “While it is mostly used by law enforcement, crime mapping has seen limited use in courts and the corrections setting.”

Electronic mapping helps law enforcement officers detect and predict patterns of crime.

“Law enforcement uses crime mapping to identify where and why crime is most likely to occur,” Robinson said. Criminals tend to follow patterns, he explained. “A criminal tends to commit crime in familiar areas that they travel in each day just like everyone traveling to and from work, school or recreational areas. When a crime occurs in an area, law enforcement officers can apply crime theory about how offenders move about to map an area where a suspect is likely to work or live,” he explained.

Solving crimes and catching offenders is just one of the uses of crime mapping. It can be used to prevent crime as well, he said.

“Forecasting where crime is likely to occur in the future is a new use of crime-mapping technology that tracks past instances of crime or how crime has moved over time across cities or within cities,” Robinson said. “By forecasting where crime is likely to occur in the future, you can direct resources to those areas, such as increase police patrols or build in social services to affected areas.”

Computer mapping also allows law enforcement agencies to look at the relationship between crime and various types of data. “You can look at census data to determine the relationship between poverty and crime, or can look at relationships between the location of bars and crime, or traffic patterns and crime,” Robinson said. “Take any topic that you are interested in and you can enter into the computer mapping software and see if there is a relationship between those factors and where crime occurs.”

While crime mapping is primarily used by law enforcement, Robinson believes the technology could become a tool for defense attorneys in presentencing investigations to identify mitigating factors that might have led to a person’s behavior.

“Crime mapping is another tool that criminal justice and law enforcement agencies use to identify offenders, understand why crime happens in their community, to make arrests and prevent crime,” Robinson said.

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