Web GIS for Crime Mapping and Analysis: A Case Study of Peshawar District

Abstract

The use of spatial analysis and development of Web-GIS for crime analysis and mapping is a new analytical technique especially in Pakistan where paper based technique is still in use in crime reporting. The objective of this study was to spatially analyze the drug crime related data of district Peshawar and develop Web-GIS for better analysis and visualization. To achieve the objectives data based on the First Investigation Reports (FIR) of year 2011 and 2012 were obtained from the local police stations and field survey was conducted for recording of crime locations with handheld GPS. Various spatial analytical techniques i.e. spatial autocorrelation, nearest neighbor, hotspot analyses were performed to analyze the spatial pattern/trend of crime data in the district. The results shows that drug related crimes are highly clustered. In the hotspot analysis the union councils Hayatabad, Achani bala, Pishtakara, Badaber, Bazid khel, Sikandar Town, Nauthia, Jehangir pura, bani mari, Yakka Toot, Suafid Dehri, Mahal therai, Khalisa, wadpaga, Sikandar town, Hazar khwani & Tehkal showed high crimes ratio. A web portal has been developed to facilitate the law enforcing agencies for drug crime pattern visualization and searching for previous crime records of a particular police station. For efficient allocation resources it is recommended that police should start patrolling in those areas where there is high crimes ratio as indicated in this study. This will not only save time but will also efficiently utilize the existing resources with the local police stations.