Visual Analytics Law Enforcement Toolkit

Abstract

We present VALET, a Visual Analytics Law Enforcement Toolkit for analyzing spatiotemporal law enforcement data. VALET provides users with a suite of analytical tools coupled with an interactive visual interface for data exploration and analysis. This system includes linked views and interactive displays that spatiotemporally model criminal, traffic and civil (CTC) incidents and allows officials to observe patterns and quickly identify regions with higher probabilities of activity. Our toolkit provides analysts with the ability to visualize different types of data sets (census data, daily weather reports, zoning tracts, prominent calendar dates, etc.) that provide an insight into correlations among CTC incidents and spatial demographics. In the spatial domain, we have implemented a kernel density estimation mapping technique that creates a color map of spatially distributed CTC events that allows analysts to quickly find and identify areas with unusually large activity levels. In the temporal domain, reports can be aggregated by day, week, month or year, allowing the analysts to visualize the CTC activities spatially over a period of time. Furthermore, we have incorporated temporal prediction algorithms to forecast future CTC incident levels within a 95% confidence interval. Such predictions aid law enforcement officials in understanding how hotspots may grow in the future in order to judiciously allocate resources and take preventive measures. Our system has been developed using actual law enforcement data and is currently being evaluated and refined by a consortium of law enforcement agencies.