Mapping associations

A safer neighbourhood analyst has created a tool that transforms ‘on the ground’ and force intelligence information into an analysis product supporting ward driven requests and to map youth group associations and gang members migrating into more serious crime. Damian Small reports.

Ernie Trendell, safer neighbourhood analyst for the London borough of Greenwich, produces association charts that reveal the ‘main players’ or persons between the ages of 11 and 15 belonging to one or more disparate groups. The charts build on existing intelligence that already show links between some individuals because they have been involved in some form of criminal action.

“The chart highlights connections between different groupings. For example, a member of group ‘A’ is associated to group ‘B’ through activities either inside or outside of the main group either person is associated with. In other words the association chart shows everything known about an individual ranging from what incidents they are related to, the people they associate with, the crimes committed and arrests made,” said Mr Trendell.

“As a result of the analysis, sometimes a vicious gang nature is identified where general anti-social behaviour has escalated into assaults on other youths or residents that are racially motivated and involve drugs and alcohol abuse. This information is passed to another level where it is targeted by other focused activities within the force.”

Impetus for the initiative came from the safer neighbourhood community panel, which highlighted a number of young people who, in their view, presented a problem in Plumstead ward.

“It is the views of the neighbourhood ward panels that I look at and with the neighbourhood officers, deliver a service to give back to the people living in the wards the reassurance that neighbourhood policing promotes,” said Mr Trendell.

Although it may only be a nuisance that is occurring as opposed to a crime that Mr Trendell analyses, using this ‘on the ground’ intelligence has led to sophisticated mapping of the wider threats and possible criminals of the future. It allows intervention tactics to be properly targeted at young people who may be on the periphery of criminal behaviour.

Certain individuals were identified by the community panel that were perceived to be at the heart of neighbourhood problems such as loitering in public places, vandalism and graffiti. Safer neighbourhood sergeants approached Mr Trendell asking for more information based of the concerns of ward residents.

“We have many sources of information,” said Mr Trendell, “but the problem is that they are disparate; sources range from CRIS, Crimint, Stops, other BOCU intelligence, local intelligence and other local authority data.”

Mr Trendell said presenting this information to a sergeant would result in an abundance of paperwork and they would gain nothing from it. He added: “As an intelligence analyst, I gain nothing from it; it’s just a production of paper.”

The problem was approached in such a way that officers requesting information need to be promptly given a broad intelligence picture based on all of the disparate intelligence information.

To overcome the problem, Mr Trendell designed a process that allows information from disparate sources to be consolidated in a visual way, be easy to use, allowing versioning and the use of images in an efficient way.

Mr Trendell utilises the i2 Analyst’s Notebook. “It allows me to produce a series of ‘mind-maps’ on one piece of paper. Central points, linked to individuals are joined to a series of other individuals, locations, street names and tags. It reveals an affinity between them,” he said.

Mr Trendell added that the analytical tool allows the creation of an audit trail for pieces of information included on the association chart that can be presented and used in a court room. “The chart is created using ‘layers’ of categorisation; if a source of information