This map shows a comparable measure of crime in the United States. The crime index compares the average local crime level to that of the United States as a whole. An index of 100 is average. A crime index of 120 indicates that crime in that area is 20 percent above the national average.The crime data is provided by Applied Geographic Solutions, Inc. (AGS). AGS created models using the FBI Uniform Crime Report databases as the primary data source and using an initial range of about 65 socio-economic characteristics taken from the 2000 Census and AGS’ current year estimates. The crimes included in the models include murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, theft, and motor vehicle theft. The total crime index incorporates all crimes and provides a useful measure of the relative “overall” crime rate in an area. However, these are unweighted indexes, meaning that a murder is weighted no more heavily than a purse snatching in the computations. The geography depicts states, counties, Census tracts and Census block groups. An urban/rural "mask" layer helps you identify crime patterns in rural and urban settings. The Census tracts and block groups help identify neighborhood-level variation in the crime data.------------------------The Civic Analytics Network collaborates on shared projects that advance the use of data visualization and predictive analytics in solving important urban problems related to economic opportunity, poverty reduction, and addressing the root causes of social problems of equity and opportunity. For more information see About the Civil Analytics Network.

This study was designed to develop crime forecasting as an application area for police in support of tactical deployment of resources. Data on crime offense reports and computer aided dispatch (CAD) drug calls and shots fired calls were collected from the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Bureau of Police for the years 1990 through 2001. Data on crime offense reports were collected from the Rochester, New York Police Department from January 1991 through December 2001. The Rochester CAD drug calls and shots fired calls were collected from January 1993 through May 2001. A total of 1,643,828 records (769,293 crime offense and 874,535 CAD) were collected from Pittsburgh, while 538,893 records (530,050 crime offense and 8,843 CAD) were collected from Rochester. ArcView 3.3 and GDT Dynamap 2000 Street centerline maps were used to address match the data, with some of the Pittsburgh data being cleaned to fix obvious errors and increase address match percentages. A SAS program was used to eliminate duplicate CAD calls based on time and location of the calls. For the 1990 through 1999 Pittsburgh crime offense data, the address match rate was 91 percent. The match rate for the 2000 through 2001 Pittsburgh crime offense data was 72 percent. The Pittsburgh CAD data address match rate for 1990 through 1999 was 85 percent, while for 2000 through 2001 the match rate was 100 percent because the new CAD system supplied incident coordinates. The address match rates for the Rochester crime offenses data was 96 percent, and 95 percent for the CAD data. Spatial overlay in ArcView was used to add geographic area identifiers for each data point: precinct, car beat, car beat plus, and 1990 Census tract. The crimes included for both Pittsburgh and Rochester were aggravated assault, arson, burglary, criminal mischief, misconduct, family violence, gambling, larceny, liquor law violations, motor vehicle theft, murder/manslaughter, prostitution, public drunkenness, rape, robbery, simple assaults, trespassing, vandalism, weapons, CAD drugs, and CAD shots fired.

This study examined spatial and temporal features of crime guns in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in order to ascertain how gun availability affected criminal behavior among youth, whether the effects differed between young adults and juveniles, and whether that relationship changed over time. Rather than investigating the general prevalence of guns, this study focused only on those firearms used in the commission of crimes. Crime guns were defined specifically as those used in murders, assaults, robberies, weapons offenses, and drug offenses. The emphasis of the project was on the attributes of crime guns and those who possess them, the geographic sources of those guns, the distribution of crime guns over neighborhoods in a city, and the relationship between the prevalence of crime guns and the incidence of homicide. Data for Part 1, Traced Guns Data, came from the City of Pittsburgh Bureau of Police. Gun trace data provided a detailed view of crime guns recovered by police during a two-year period, from 1995 to 1997. These data identified the original source of each crime gun (first sale to a non-FFL, i.e., a person not holding a Federal Firearms License) as well as attributes of the gun and the person possessing the gun at the time of the precipitating crime, and the ZIP-code location where the gun was recovered. For Part 2, Crime Laboratory Data, data were gathered from the local county crime laboratory on guns submitted by Pittsburgh police for forensic testing. These data were from 1993 to 1998 and provided a longer time series for examining changes in crime guns over time than the data in Part 1. In Parts 3 and 4, Stolen Guns by ZIP-Code Data and Stolen Guns by Census Tract Data, data on stolen guns came from the local police. These data included the attributes of the guns and residential neighborhoods of owners. Part 3 contains data from 1987 to 1996 organized by ZIP code, whereas Part 4 contains data from 1993 to 1996 organized by census tract. Part 5, Shots Fired Data, contains the final indicator of crime gun prevalence for this study, which was 911 calls of incidents involving shots fired. These data provided vital information on both the geographic location and timing of these incidents. Shots-fired incidents not only captured varying levels of access to crime guns, but also variations in the willingness to actually use crime guns in a criminal manner. Part 6, Homicide Data, contains homicide data for the city of Pittsburgh from 1990 to 1995. These data were used to examine the relationship between varying levels of crime gun prevalence and levels of homicide, especially youth homicide, in the same city. Part 7, Pilot Mapping Application, is a pilot application illustrating the potential uses of mapping tools in police investigations of crime guns traced back to original point of sale. NTC. It consists of two ArcView 3.1 project files and 90 supporting data and mapping files. Variables in Part 1 include date of manufacture and sale of the crime gun, weapon type, gun model, caliber, firing mechanism, dealer location (ZIP code and state), recovery date and location (ZIP code and state), age and state of residence of purchaser and possessor, and possessor role. Part 2 also contains gun type and model, as well as gun make, precipitating offense, police zone submitting the gun, and year the gun was submitted to the crime lab. Variables in Parts 3 and 4 include month and year the gun was stolen, gun type, make, and caliber, and owner residence. Residence locations are limited to owner ZIP code in Part 3, and 1990 Census tract number and neighborhood name in Part 4. Part 5 contains the date, time, census tract and police zone of 911 calls relating to shots fired. Part 6 contains the date and census tract of the homicide incident, drug involvement, gang involvement, weapon, and victim and offender ages. Data in Part 7 include state, county, and ZIP code of traced guns, population figures, and counts of crime guns recovered at various geographic locations (states, counties, and ZIP codes) where the traced guns first originated in sales by an FFL to a non-FFL individual. Data for individual guns are not provided in Part 7.