Chicago, a bustling city with a population of over 2.7 million (Chicago, 2021), has long been known for its high rate of gang violence and homicides. The city’s notorious street gangs are responsible for a significant proportion of crime, including drug trafficking, robberies, and homicides. The Chicago Police Department (CPD) has been working tirelessly to curb these crimes, but the complex nature of street gangs has made it challenging to identify and track gang activity. In recent years, the CPD has implemented several strategies, including the use of technology such as geocoding to identify and track street gang activity. This essay explores how the record-keeping and data collection of the CPD, along with the use of geocoding, have helped to identify street gang affiliation in Chicago and how this has improved their ability to solve homicide cases and other gang-related crimes.
Record-keeping and Data Collection of the CPD
The CPD has a long history of keeping detailed records and collecting crime and public safety data, including information on gang activity, such as gang member names, addresses, and affiliations. The CPD has recently improved its data collection and analysis capabilities by implementing new technologies and software programs for more efficient and accurate record-keeping. This is evident in the creation of CPD’s Deployment Operations Center – DOC, a division within the department that ensures the implementation of these technologies in analyzing crime and intelligent data (Alderden & Schuck, 2012).
One of the technologies implemented to improve data collection and analysis is the CPD’s gang database, which contains information on known gang members and their affiliations. According to the CPD’s Gang Data Dashboard, the department has compiled a database of more than 117,000 gang members and associates, regularly updated with new information (Chicago Police Department, n.d.). According to the CPD, the new information used to update the database is obtained from various sources, including police reports, community tips, and other law enforcement agencies. This allows the CPD to track known gang members’ movements and activities and identify new members as they join.
Geocoding and Identifying Hot Spots of Gang Activity
Despite the CPD’s efforts to collect data on criminals and keep records of the same, the sheer volume of the data can be overwhelming, making it challenging to identify and track gang activity in real time. This is where geocoding technique comes in. This technique involves assigning geographical coordinates to specific locations, such as street addresses or neighborhoods. This allows for the mapping and analysis of crime patterns and trends, which can be used to identify hot spots of criminal activity. In the case of Chicago’s gang violence problem, geocoding has been an invaluable tool for the CPD in identifying areas of high gang activity (Alderden & Schuck, 2012). Using geocoding, the CPD has created heat maps showing the concentration of gang activity in certain neighborhoods and streets. This information allows the CPD to allocate resources more effectively and prioritize their efforts in areas with the highest concentration of gang activity (Moreto & Payne, 2017).
Better Equipping the CPD to Solve Homicide Cases and Other Gang-related Crimes
Identifying gang affiliation through improved record-keeping and data collection, combined with geocoding to identify hot spots of gang activity, has enabled the CPD to equip themselves better to solve homicide cases and other gang-related crimes. Gang-related homicides are notoriously difficult to solve, as witnesses are often reluctant to come forward, and suspects may have airtight alibis. However, by identifying gang affiliation and hot spots of gang activity, the CPD has connected seemingly unrelated crimes and built more robust cases against suspects.
For example, if a homicide occurs in an area known for gang activity, the CPD can use its knowledge of the local gangs and their affiliations to identify potential suspects. This can include using the gang database to identify known gang members in the area and looking for other signs of gang activity at the crime scene, such as graffiti or gang-related clothing. By narrowing down their list of potential suspects in this way, the CPD can focus their investigative efforts and increase their chances of solving the crime. In 2016, for instance, the CPD used geocoding to identify a hot spot of gang activity in the South Side of Chicago. This information led them to a suspect who had been arrested for a non-fatal shooting in the same area. Through further investigation, the CPD was able to connect the suspect to a series of gang-related homicides and successfully prosecute him (Erickson, 2017).
Conclusion
The use of geocoding and improved record-keeping and data collection by the CPD has been instrumental in identifying street gang affiliation in Chicago. By creating heat maps and other tools, the CPD has been able to allocate resources better and disrupt gang activity in hot spots, reducing violence and other criminal activity. This has also equipped them to better solve homicide cases and other gang-related crimes by identifying potential criminals within the city.
References
Alderden, M. A., & Schuck, A. M. (2012). Gang hot spots policing in Chicago: An evaluation of the deployment operations center process. Retrieved January 2023, from https://www.ojp.gov/library/publications/gang-hot-spots-policing-chicago-evaluation-deployment-operations-center
Chicago Police Department. (n.d.). Gang data dashboard.
Chicago. (2021). Retrieved March 2023, from https://datacommons.org/place/geoId/1714000?utm_medium=explore&mprop=count&popt=Person&hl=en
Erickson, A. (2017). How geocoding is helping Chicago solve its homicides. GovTech.
Moreto, W. D., & Payne, B. K. (2017). Understanding and Improving the Accuracy of Crime Hot Spot Maps. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 13(2), 191–219.
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