Crime Analysis for Problem Solvers I

Catalog description

This course, the first in the sequence of two courses on Crime Analysis for Problem Solvers, provides a basic knowledge of problem-oriented policing and the related fields of environmental criminology and situational crime prevention. Rather than examining the techniques of mapping and other statistical procedures commonly used to study crime, this course focuses on specific crime problems and their solutions in a way that informs how better to use those important tools of analysis. The early sections of the course explain how to take a more proactive approach to crime analysis. Most crime analysts employed in police departments have a reactive role. This course will show how to take the initiative at every stage of the project in defining the scope of the problem-solving effort, in trying to analyze the causes of the problem, in helping to find an effective response, and in setting up the project so that it can be evaluated and the police can learn from the results. In this course, Scanning and Analysis of the SARA model of approaching crime problems are reviewed. Prerequisite(s): R CRJ 201 or R CRJ/A SOC 203, and junior or senior standing.