Britain's police forces as a whole aren't using technology enough, according to a Home Office report, but those which are are reaping the rewards

The Home Office Police Standards Unit has produced a guidance document for police forces in collaboration with the Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science. Crime Mapping: Improving Performance, published in April 2005, emphasises the increasing importance of geographical systems in policing.

"All police forces and constabularies already possess the infrastructure to utilise crime mapping, but few are exploiting its full potential," the report says in its introduction. "Where its use is active, police forces are realising the benefits."

It makes the point that most forces already possess the necessary infrastructure, notably geographical information system software and a licence to use Ordnance Survey mapping and address data. But analysts and other key staff need the key skills to maximise its use.

The document provides lists several action points for police forces. These include:

• developing a single gazeteer integrated across all police information systems;
• making use of the gazeteer to identify the location of incidents;
• standardising and/or automating processes that help to improve the quality of address and location information;
• using crime mapping to profile problem and priority areas;
• using crime mapping for results analysis.

It urges forces to create a specialist team and provide the relevant training for analysts.

The report also highlights new developments in crime mapping. These include catching serial offenders through geographic profiling and identifying areas where there is a high risk of street crime.

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