GIS MODEL FOR EFFECTIVE POLICE DEPARTMENT'S

PERFORMANCE

Balqies Sadoun and Samih Al-Rawashdeh

Surveying and Geomatics Engineering Department, Al-Balqa’ Applied University, Al-Salt, Jordan

Keywords: Geographic Information System (GIS), Global Positioning System (GPS), Police Department (PD), Remote

Sensing (RS), Satellite Images.

Abstract: Police department's (PD's) performance has become more and more important due to the increase in crimes

and their fast spreading. In order to allow improved police services, modern technologies need to be utilized

to serve this goal. In this work we are employing a Geographic Information System (GIS) to permit efficient

planning, informed decision making and optimal performance, especially in emergencies. GIS creates an

efficient database system that is easy to manage, manipulate, analyze, present and update for in action

policeman as well as for a planner. All information is provided accurately and it is organized and located

geographically in a timely manner. GIS provides a number of specialized tools to help dispatchers collect

and relay all kind of information to the officers on the scene of crime, or in a natural disaster when help is

needed desperately. The locations of schools, hospitals, gas stations or neighborhoods with different

socioeconomic status influences the patterns and rate of incidents (road accident, fire, crime, burglar…etc).

Hence, using GIS technology is a must if we need to save time and life.

Maps and analysis results provided by GIS can play a major role in reducing crime and improving the

effectiveness of the Police activities. In this work, we built a GIS Model for the police stations in the city of

Amman, Jordan, as an application to improve their efficiency, especially in emergencies. GIS allows

informed decision making and better planning in different ways: relocation, redistribution, initiation of PD's

etc. Multiple data sources were used to enrich the built GIS including available and field collected data

(remotely sensed data with medium and high resolutions, LandSat ETM+ IKONOS images, and ground

control points measured using global positioning systems etc.). A transportation network model was

included to help in promoting the efficiency and to employ the state of the arts technologies and local based

services in the PD’s work. We analyzed the current locations of PD stations (we call them here PDs) and

proposed better locations as well as proposed new ones (Sadoun, 2006; Al-Hanbali and Sadoun, 2006;

Sadoun and Saleh, 2005; Saleh and Sadoun, 2006).

1 INTRODUCTION

The rates of crime, fire, burglar incidents are rising

with time and new technologies are needed to be

employed to promote people safety and provide

ways to minimize their occurrences. In general, the

distribution of incidents across the landscape is not

geographically random since incidents are human

phenomena. Police departments are on the duty of

protecting the citizen’s safety and taking safety

measures to reduce the risk of breaking the law. It

has long been common exercise for the police to

identify locations and times that are more prone to

criminal activities. GIS technology with the help of

geodatabase of the PD's can definitely improve the

effectiveness of police work in protecting cities and

enhancing citizen security and safety (Sadoun,

2006; Al-Hanbali and Sadoun, 2006; Sadoun and

Saleh, 2005; Saleh and Sadoun, 2006).

GIS is a technology that is used to observe and

analyze data from a geographic perspective. It ties

location to information (such as people to addresses,

buildings to parcels, or streets within a network) and

layers in order to give a better understanding of how

it all interrelates according to a purpose. A GIS is

most often associated with maps and an Information

System for Geography. The Maps are constructed

and used as windows into the database to support

queries, analysis, and editing of the information

(Sadoun and Saleh, 2005; Saleh and Sadoun, 2006).

Sadoun B. and Al-Rawashdeh S. (2009).

GIS MODEL FOR EFFECTIVE POLICE DEPARTMENT’S PERFORMANCE .

In Proceedings of the International Conference on e-Business, pages 5-12

 SciTePress

What can GIS do for emergency management

and planning? Five Phases of emergency

management were proposed (Donohue, 2002):

alleviation protection from hazards and their effects,

avoidance of any incident from occurring, vigilance

plans to save lives and facilitating rescue, rapid

response immediately after an event occurs,

recovery and rebuilding communities to return to

normal life and protection against future hazards. All

phases rely on critical data from various sources

which are simply managed using GIS.

The Louisiana Department of Transportation

developed a GIS application (New Orleans Regional

Planning Comission Agency, 2006) to identify city

streets, highways, and infrastructures and to be used

as a tool in analysis of traffic patterns, future

construction projects, and land use. The utilization

of this application was enormous after Hurricane

Katrina ravaged the city of New Orleans. It was used

by emergency responders linking street addresses

with global position coordinates, in order to locate

citizens during the Katrina storm and flooding. It

was a critical, life-saving tool which was used by

decision-makers and first responders in such

unforeseen situations. Clearly, flexibility of GIS

during unforeseen conditions is one of the benefits

of such a dynamic tool.

GIS is very important in every day emergencies

circumstance such as emergency health care

provision, monitoring demands and intervention

over time (Moore). It can determine the "response

times" needed for individual stations to service their

areas within target timescales or may be analyzing

data from road traffic accidents to find the hot spots

where more control is needed.

The global Internet and GIS can work jointly to

provide access to distributed data (spatial & non-

spatial) located at geographically isolated locations

and shared dynamically for better decision making

nationally or internationally in all times (Ghosh and

Samaddar). A local preparedness objective is to

accomplish and carry on risk-based target levels of

capability in order to avert, protect against, respond

to, and pull through from main human-caused or

natural events in order to reduce the danger and

shock to lives, property and the local economy

(Oblinsky, 2007).

In this paper, we are building a GIS Model for

the PD’s in part of the city of Amman, the capital of

Jordan, as a case study. The chosen parts are the

regions of Shafa Badran, Abu Nsair and Swieleh

(Fig.1), which are located in the north part of the

city.

Figure 1: The study areas: Shafa Badran, Abu Nsair and

Swieleh regions of Amman.

These regions represent the highly populated

regions which include middle and lower-class

population with a medium rate of incidences and

crimes. The population of the area under study

exceeds 600,000 inhabitants and it covers about 60

. The location, service boundary and many

attributes are included in the database to allow

analysis and improvement, in addition to immediate

reflections (response time) and guidance in

emergencies. The ultimate goal of a law

enforcement GIS is to use the power of analysis and

planning to reduce crime. City planners and

engineers can establish a visible police presence in

troubled areas by monitoring crime sources and

reacting immediately in case of emergency.

2 METHODOLOGY AND DATA

PROCESSING

The methodology starts by collecting data from

satellite images, aerial photographs and paper maps,

then building a transportation network using GIS.

Next step is to perform analysis on data; see

flowchart depicted in Figure 2.

Data Acquisition. The data were collected in analog

form then encoded in our computer. Spatial data

from IKONOS and LandSat images, topographic

maps, ground control points (GCPs), Amman tourist

map (scale 1:25000) and from the field attribute data

were used. Four IKONOS images resolution 1 meter

covering an area of 10*10 km for the north of

Amman were used in this work to produce the

studied area (Fig. 3). Medium resolution satellite

images LandSat ETM+ are shown in Figure 4.

Ground Control Points were taken using hand held

GPS with an accuracy of 5-6 m for Georeferencing

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and registration of the satellite images and the PD’s

locations.

Figure 2: Flowchart of our methodology.

Attribute data obtained from maps include roads

names, districts names, land marks and

administrative units. Field data about police stations

were collected from each police station such as:

police station area of coverage, area of

specialization, population within the administrative

boundaries, among others. Additional field data was

needed such as the census data especially about

streets, addresses and locations. From the acquisition

phase we should know the needed data and how it

will be entered and used (import of existing data,

digitizing or scanning). Data entry and development

goes through edits and several stages of quality

control. Then, Geo-referencing is to put the data in a

geographic reference system that is meaningful to

the organization (after the data entry and edits

procedures). The processing procedure is

summarized by the flowchart shown in Figure 5.

Figure 3: The produced single image from 4 IKONOS

images (PD’s locations).

Figure 4: Landsat image.

By using LandSat image shown in Fig. 6, we

were able to trace the main streets due to the high

resolution of 30 m. Then we traced the local streets

from Amman tourist map. Next, we built a main and

secondary streets layer as depicted in Fig. 7.

Figure 5: The flowchart of the processing procedure.

Data Processing

Definition of the Coordinate System

Measurements of the reference

points

(

GPS

)

Registration of the images

Digitizing

The output Layers & GIS

Input Data

Paper

Map

Satellite

Images

Vector layer

Result

paper Map

Building Geospatial Database

Adding

GPS points

Scanning

Geo referencing

And Registration

Coordinate

System

Definition

Digitizing

Cleaning and

Editing

IKONOS

Land

sat

Result

Editing & maintenance

Adding

Attribute

data

Analysis –Documentation- Plotting

GIS MODEL FOR EFFECTIVE POLICE DEPARTMENT'S PERFORMANCE

Figure 6: Landsat image shows only main streets.

Figure 7: Main, Secondary, and Local Streets layers Built

from Amman tourist map.

A rectification of this map was made using map

to image registration. A transportation layer was

extracted (streets edges) from the rectified and

scanned tourist map. We used the produced street

layers from the tourist map and overlaid it with

IKONOS images; see Fig.8. We found that some

local streets were missing and in other cases the

streets were larger than realty. We needed to trace a

street centerline layer from a high precise registered

image. Then IKONOS images were chosen to carry

on this project.

Building the Geodatabase. Image Registration: We

used four IKONS images to be one georeferenced

image (Fig. 3) in order to produce the street

network; the image was registered using Ground

Control Points (GCPs).

Figure 8: IKONOS images overlaid by the street layers

from the tourist map.

Geo-Referencing. Raster data is obtained by

scanning maps or collecting aerial photographs and

satellite images. The location information delivered

with aerial photos and satellite imagery is often

inadequate. Thus, in order to establish the

relationship between an image (row, column)

coordinate system and a map (x, y) coordinate

system, we need to georeference the raster data

(image). Ground Control Points (GCPs) were used

to establish a relationship between the image

coordinate system and the geographic coordinate

system.

Digitizing. This is the process of encoding

geographic features into a digital form. It is carried

out to create spatial data from existing hardcopy

maps and documents. Our geo-referenced raster

images were digitized using Arc View 9.1(on-line

digitization) package. A road network of the area

under study was digitized as line features; see Fig. 9.

Administrative units, forests, gardens, are digitized

as polygon features to create the needed layers. Gas

stations, Governmental facilities, hospitals, hotels,

hydrants, ministries, mosques, schools-universities,

and trade (shopping) centers were digitized as point

features; see Fig 10. The PD’s were located on

IKONOS images using GPS and were made into a

layer. Then, the service area of each PD's (Abu Nsair

39 km

, Sweileh 22 km

and Albeader) was created

in another layer; see Fig.11.

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Figure 9: The network layer analysis showing the best

route.

Figure 10: Point land marks.

Figure 11: Police stations and service boundaries layers.

3 ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

GIS analysis is the process of looking at geographic

patterns in the GIS database and the relationships

between features, which is done by making a map,

models or by combining many data layers.

The location of the PD’s were analyzed and

found to be distributed arbitrary meanwhile, their

locations should be in the center of their

administrative boundaries measured using the street

length and not direct distance to the edges; see

Fig.12.

We proposed new boundaries for the PD’s using

point circle buffers around each PD’s (2,800 m

radius) and fitting buffers with main streets edges to

get easy access as shown in Fig.13.

Figure 12: The main streets length from each PD to the

edges of its boundary.

We suggested the initiation of new police

stations and upgrading the already existing ones by

considering urban and population growth

(Aljbaihah) or newly established areas such as the

Hussein Gardens/Park, which has an area of about

20 km

and serves 50,000 residents. The selection

was based on fitting circular buffer of service area

with the main streets axis from the region; see

Fig.14.

We created the new service areas using the

network analysis provided by GIS. Suggestions for

one way streets were made. Endless functions could

be used for providing protection and safety.

Amman Network was created as well to find the

best route considering roads directions, the time or

distance. Figure 9 illustrates the shortest route

between a police station and an assumed accident

with directions to quickly and accurately reach the

place; see Fig. 15.

GIS MODEL FOR EFFECTIVE POLICE DEPARTMENT'S PERFORMANCE

Figure 13: Old and new PD’s according to best fit

boundary to the buffer zone and streets.

Figure 14: The best fit boundary to the buffer zone and

streets.

Figure 15: The direction to be followed to reach the

assumed accident.

Figure 16 illustrates how to find the closest

facility application such as; closest hospital to Abu

Nsair PD, the closest hospital to a car accident, etc.

GIS offers more than we can ask

Prop. P.D

Ab-Nsair.

Ab-Nsair PD

Prop. P .D.

Hussein

Gardens

Prop. P.D

Gubeha

Al-Biadr PD

Sweilh P.D.

Figure 16: The closest hospital to an accident location.

4 CONCLUSIONS

In this paper, we applied GIS technology to help in

planning and optimizing police station locations in

the city of Amman. This is important in order to

have the optimum and bets locations as well as to

make sure that these stations are distributed properly

and can meet future growth of the city, demands and

situations.

The principal spatial and non spatial data

obtained from the Police Directorate, governmental

organizations and private sectors were organized and

managed using ArcGIS 9.1 software package. The

latter is efficient as it helps us to make accurate and

proper analysis and presentation.

Basically we developed a GIS and Geodatabase

for the PD’s in the northern part of the city to allow

the improvement of the PD’s work. A road network

for the capital city was created using different

technologies (Land sat and IKONOS images, remote

sensing etc.) in order to improve the PD’s efficiency

and planning. Clearly with the obtained GIS system,

maintenance and enhancement of base maps can be

performed easily with almost no time.

The created GIS will be useful in the

development of any web-based GIS application such

as vehicle crash location, safety analysis, etc. It also

permits data sharing and partnership with national or

international agencies.

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State of the art applications such as tracking,

traffic management, and location based services will

be possible.

Accurate Geo-referenced high resolution digital

image archive of the road network is created to

allow real efficiency and services.

The analysis of the PD’s locations in their zone

of influence led to the suggestions for new better

locations according to international criteria. In

addition, suggestions to establish new stations were

made. The system provides quick and accurate

search engine. This is very useful in matters related

to finding the shortest path to a hospital or the

closest gas station facility based on the selected

criteria such as distance or cost.

Finally, GIS can be used by law enforcement

agencies and community planners as will as by

private citizens to decrease crime and enhance police

work awareness with local communities.

REFERENCES

Balqies Sadoun, “GIS Applications to City Planning

Engineering,” Encyclopedia of Human Computer

Interaction, Idea Group Inc., pp. 234-241, January

2006.

Nedal Al-Hanbali and Balqies Saodun,” A GIS-Based

Interactive Database System for Planning Purposes,

“Encyclopedia of Human Computer Interaction, Idea

Group Inc., pp. 242-255, January 2006.

Balqies Sadoun and Bassam Saleh,” Geographic

Information System (GIS) for Tourism Planning

Purposes,” Proceedings of the 2005 International

Conference on Information Technology, ICIT 2005,

pp. 306-313, Amman, Jordan, May 2005.

B. Saleh and Balqies Sadoun,” Design and

Implementation of a GIS System for Planning,”

Journal of Digital Libraries, Springer-Verlag, Vol. 6,

No. 2, pp. 210-218, April 2006.

Keith Donohue, "Using GIS for all-hazard emergency

management", NRS 509, fall 2002

http://www.edc.uri.edu/nrs/classes/NRS409/509_2002

/Donahue.pdf

New Orleans Regional Planning Commission Agency,

"GIS Use in the Hurricane Katrina Response and

Recovery Efforts", March 10, 2006.

http://coastal.lic.wisc.edu/urpl969-katrina/urpl969-

spring06-NORPC-paper.pdf

David Moore, "GIS in Emergency Planning: A Spatial

analysis of Ambulance services. Spatial planning

solutions",

http://www.spatial.ie/downloads/GIS%20in%20Emerg

ency%20Planning.pdf.

Subrato Ghosh and Arun B Samaddar, "Distributed and

Interoperable GIS for Planning and Emergency in

Indian Mines",

http://gsdidocs.org/gsdiconf/GSDI-

7/papers/TSsdSG.pdf .

Michelle Tilley Oblinsky, "GIS as a Tool for Emergency

Management", Emergency planner/GIS coordinator

city of Cheasapeak, VA.

http://www.scag.ca.gov/rtptac/pdf/2007/tac051707_Se

curityPreparednessWhitePaper.pdf.

GIS MODEL FOR EFFECTIVE POLICE DEPARTMENT'S PERFORMANCE