International Journal of Innovative Research in Engineering & Management (IJIREM) ISSN: 2350-0557, Volume-3, Issue-5, September-2016 Copyright © 2016. Innovative Research Publications. All Rights Reserved 403 Modeling of Crime Pattern in Anaocha L.G.A, Anambra State, Nigeria Using GIS Approach Ojiako, J.C. Department of Surveying & Geoinformatics, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria Okafor, C. K. Department of Surveying & Geoinformatics, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria Igbokwe, E.C. Department of Surveying & Geoinformatics, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria Enedah, I.C. Department of Surveying & Geoinformatics, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria ABSTRACT This research paper puts into operation, the application and utilization of Geographical Information System (GIS) in crime management and in security situation analysis for efficient community policing in Nigeria, using Anaocha as case study. The aim was to model crime patterns in Anaocha L.G.A, Anambra state using GIS approach. Methodology adopted included the acquisition of GPS coordinates of crime locations, attribute data and analogue map of Anaocha L.G.A which was scanned and digitized amongst others. The GPS coordinates of the crime locations were imported into ArcGIS environment and a database was designed. The results showed that about 85 out of 88 crimes in the area were committed by males, 27 out of 88 crimes resulted in more than one casualty, 18 out of 88 crimes were shoplifting, out of 88 crimes there were just two cases of kidnapping. It was therefore recommended that the result of this research paper serves as a decision support system in managing crime within Anaocha L.G.A of Anambra State, Security agencies like Vigilantes should complement the efforts of the police in checking crimes especially in areas with no police posts or police station amongst other recommendations. KEYWORDS: Crime Mapping, Geographic Information System, Database, Spatial Query. 1. INTRODUCTION Crime mapping involves the manipulation and processing of spatially referenced crime data in order to display visually in an output that is informative to the particular user (Alex and Kate 2001). Crime mapping can provide information concerning the location of hotspots or high level of reported crime. Crime analysis is a set of processes applied on relevant information about crime patterns. Administrative and operational personnel can use the result of analysis to prevent and suppress criminal activities and also for investigation aims. Crime prevention seeks to reduce the risks of criminal events and related anti-social behavior by intervening in their causes. In Anaocha L.G.A, GIS has not yet been viewed as an obligatory technology within the police force, whereas organizations such as the utilities have taken GIS on board, this is due to high cost of GIS tools and lack of GIS experts in the police force. Law enforcement needs information management, especially location information. Traditional law enforcement for different types of police applications really deals with data collection. However, data collection without data analysis is useless. GIS not only allows integration and spatial analysis of data to identify, apprehend, and prosecute suspects, it also improves more proactive measures through effective allocation of resources and better policy setting. It is quite obvious that if the police authorities have goals of improving crime management (crime prevention) in the rural areas, the manual recordings of crime incidents cannot be the way forward. The various police stations under the Anaocha divisional headquarters’ office have the responsibility of handling the various crime incidences under their jurisdiction but at the moment have problems with their recording system and aggregation of crimes incidents in all police stations within their jurisdiction. All the recordings that are done in the police station are manually written in blotters (police blotter is a record of all arrests, crime events, and charges) and it is difficult to do decision making relating to crime management for all the police stations in their jurisdictions. There were also, no system for evaluating the effectiveness of crime prevention initiatives and assistance in the prevention and rapid response to crime. Hence, there is no decision support system for crime management within the Local Government Area 2. STUDY AREA Anambra State is one of the five states in the South-Eastern part of Nigeria (See Fig.2.0a). The state is made up of 21 Local Government Areas (Fig 2.0b) of which Anaocha is one of them (www.anambrastate.gov.ng/history.html). Anaocha Local Government Area (Fig 2.0c) covers an area of 171.62 square kilometers lying within latitude 6 o 12’N and 6 o 14’N to longitude 6 o 45’E to 7 o 04’E