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Configure Crime Problem Management

In this topic

  1. Organize your data
  2. Load data
  3. Configure Problem Identification project
  4. Configure layers and maps
  5. Provision users
  6. Share items with the public

Crime Problem Management can be used to plan, manage, and evaluate evidence-based responses to crime problems.

In this topic, you'll learn how to configure the Crime Problem Management solution to meet specific needs of your organization.

Organize your data

Crime Problem Management uses crime and calls for service data from your authoritative systems to generate maps and statistics used in the solution. Before you begin configuring the solution, take some time to organize your source data.

Three foundational data sets: district, crimes, and calls for service, are required to configure the solution.

Note:

Organizations may use different terminology to describe their districts. If your organization utilizes terminology other than district to describe the administrative area covered by each police station in the organization, you can update the layer name of the feature layer.

District

Districts, or the equivalent area that represents the administrative area covered by each police station in the organization, are required to configure the solution. This data must be a polygon, each district must have a unique name, and, to ensure that preset filters and dashboard actions work properly, this value must match exactly to the value found in the corresponding field in the Crimes and CallsForService layers.

Calls For Service

The solution requires a minimum of two years (optimally, four years) of reported calls for service data that is typically sourced from your computer-aided dispatch system and is updated on a nightly basis. This data must be in a flattened form and must be accessed from a database table (or table view), CSV file, or spreadsheet. The data must have existing XY coordinates or addresses of sufficient quality to be geocoded. If you are using address data, an address locator is also required. The data should also have the following minimum required fields:

  • Call ID
  • Call Type
  • Call Category
  • Call Priority
  • Call Source
  • Full Address
  • Beat
  • District
  • Call Datetime
  • Call Date Year
  • Call Date Month
  • Call Date Hour
  • Call Day of Week
  • Dispatch Datetime
  • Enroute Datetime
  • Arrival Datetime
  • Clear Datetime
  • Call to Dispatch Time (min.)
  • Dispatch to Enroute Time (min.)
  • Enroute to Arrival Time (min.)
  • Arrival to Cleared Time (min.)
  • Total Response Time (min.)
  • First Responding Unit ID
  • Disposition
  • X (only if rendering geometry from coordinates)
  • Y (only if rendering geometry from coordinates)

Crimes

The solution requires a minimum of two years (optimally, four years) of reported crime data that is typically sourced from your records management system and is updated on a nightly basis. This data must be in a flattened form and must be accessed from a database table (or table view), CSV file, or spreadsheet. The data must have existing XY coordinates or addresses of sufficient quality to be geocoded. If you are using address data, an address locator is also required. By default, the solution conforms to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) standard for crime incident reporting in the United States. The data should also have the following minimum required fields.

  • Offense ID
  • NIBRS Code
  • NIBRS Description
  • NIBRS Offense Category
  • NIBRS Crimes Against Category
  • Full Address
  • Beat
  • District
  • Weapon Type Code
  • Weapon Description
  • Weapon Category
  • Location Type Code
  • Location Description
  • Location Category
  • Case Status
  • Reporting Officer
  • Reported Date
  • Reported Date Year
  • Reported Date Month
  • Reported Date Hour
  • Reported Day of Week
  • Reported Day of Week Number
  • X (only if rendering geometry from coordinates)
  • Y (only if rendering geometry from coordinates)

Review layers

Review the required and optional feature layers used in the Crime Problem Management solution and compare the feature layers to the source data sets that you previously organized.

To update data, complete the following steps:

  1. Verify you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Crimes feature layer item.
  2. Click Data, and then click Fields.
  3. Click a field and review Description, Field Value Type, and Settings.
  4. Compare the Crimes feature layer to the data that you organized previously.
    5. This comparison will determine whether you need to add or modify your source data to work with the feature layers provided in the solution.
  5. After you have completed reviewing the Crimes feature layer, follow steps 1 - 4 for the CallsforService and District feature layers.
Tip:

The closer your source data sets match the feature layer schema provided, the easier it is to configure the solution.

Load data

The Law Enforcement Data Management ArcGIS Pro project includes series of tasks that can be used to load your administrative areas into the District feature layer and configure nightly automated loading of crime and calls for service source data from your authoritative system into the Crimes and CallsForService feature layers used by the solution.

To load data complete the following steps:

  1. Verify you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Law Enforcement Data Management item.
  2. From the item page, click Download.
  3. Expand the Tasks folder, and then double-click the Law Enforcement Data Management task group.
  4. In the Tasks pane, expand the Getting to know Law Enforcement Data Management task group to see the collection of tasks.
    Tip:
    Click a group heading or task name to view its description at the bottom of the Tasks pane.
    5. Each task group includes a set of steps for using the solution.
  5. Open each task and follow the steps provided.

    Law Enforcement Data Management ArcGIS Pro project is used to load data used in the solution apps.

Note:

The Law Enforcement Data Management ArcGIS Pro project is used in other law enforcement solutions, such as Police Transparency, Crime Reduction Statistics and Daily Activity Dashboard. If you already implemented data loading and automation for the layers used in the Crime Problem Management solution and you are using the same feature layers within your ArcGIS organization then you do not need to do it.

Configure Problem Identification project

The Crime Problem Management solution includes the Problem Identification ArcGIS Pro project, which can be used to map and summarize crime problems, evaluate responses to crime problems, and generate hardcopy reports. To begin, follow the instructions provided in the Problem Identification task item included in the project.

To configure the Problem Identification project complete the following steps:

  1. Verify you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Problem Identification item.
  2. From the item page, click Download.
  3. Expand the Tasks folder, and then double-click the Problem Identification task group.
  4. In the Tasks pane, expand the Getting to know Problem Identification task group to see the collection of tasks.
    Each task group includes a set of steps for using the solution.
    Tip:
    Click a group heading or task name to view its description at the bottom of the Tasks pane.
  5. Open each task and follow the steps provided.

    Problem Identification is used to create the problems used in the Problem Response Planner,Problem Response Coordinator, Problem Response Monitor, Problem Response Successes. The project is also used to evaluate responses to crime problems using the Weighted Displacement Difference tool, and to create hard copy reports about crime problems, responses, and evaluations.

Configure layers and maps

You will configure the layers and maps in Crime Problem Management solution to use your preferred time zone, update sharing, and, optionally, update the maps and layers to meet needs of your organization.

Update preferred time zone

Both the Law Enforcement Data Management and Problem Identification ArcGIS Pro projects are required to use the Update Features With Incident Records tool to load and update crimes and calls for service data. This tool automatically converts date field values data to universal time (UTC) prior to being appended or updated. The conversion is based on the time zone of the machine running the tool. Because of this conversion, the maps and apps will always display date information in the time zone of the machine you are using.

To use the Problem Identification ArcGIS Pro project with crimes and calls for service layers from the solution, you will need to set a preferred time zone on the feature layers to ensure that the date field values are displayed in your preferred time zone instead of UTC. Use the Publish a feature service with a preferred time zone technical article to make this update. If the preferred time zone is not added to the feature layer, date values in the layer will display in UTC rather than preferred time zone in ArcGIS Pro.

Enable editing

When analysts or captains create new crime problems, they need to edit the Crimes or CallsForService service layers in order to associate individual incidents to the problem.

To enable editing and update sharing settings of for the Crimes and CallsForService layers complete the following steps:

  1. Sign into your ArcGIS Organization.
  2. Click Content.
  3. Click the Crime Problem Management folder, then click the Crimes layer.
  4. Click Share, and then click Edit group sharing.
  5. Click Problem Identification and Problem Response Planners, click OK, then click Save.
  6. Click Settings.
  7. Click Enable editing. In What kind of editing is allowed? click Update and click Attributes only.
  8. Click Save.
  9. Repeat steps 2 - 8 for CallsForService layer.

Modify layers and maps

Note:
This workflow is optional and doesn't need to be completed in order to work with the solution.

Optionally, the Crime Problem Management solution can be extended, modified, or optimized to meet the needs of your organization. You may choose to perform additional configuration of the feature layers and maps.

To modify layers and maps complete the following steps:

  • Create domains—To improve consistency of data collection, create custom domains for the following fields in the CrimeProblemResponses layer: Problem Source, Problem Type, District Responsible. If you choose to create a domain for the District Responsible field, ensure that the values in this field exactly match the values used in the district fields of the District, Crimes, and CallsForService layers.
  • Update field display names—You can update field display names when terminology used in solution does not match your organizations language. For example, administrative areas are described as beat, district, and division, which may differ from how your organization describes its administrative areas.
  • Update pop-ups—You can update the pop-up display to meet your organizational preferences. For example, if you updated fields in the Crimes and Calls for Service layers, you'll likely want to include that information in your pop-up. While pop-ups can be configured in the web maps of the solution; they are configured by default within the feature layer views. Updating the pop-ups in the feature layer view will make it easier to manage your pop-up configuration across multiple solutions rather than a specific map. Update pop-ups from the Visualization tab or configure within the map.
  • Update symbols—You can update the symbols, including color and size to meet your organizational preferences. While symbols can be configured in the maps of the solution; they are configured by default within the feature layer views. Updating the symbols in the feature layer view will make it easier to manage your pop-up configuration across multiple solutions rather than a specific map. Update symbology from the Visualization tab or configure symbology within the web map.
  • Modify clustering—You can modify or remove clustering from Crimes and Calls for Service in the web maps.
  • Modify basemap—By default, the solution's web map leverages the Color Dodge blend mode with a background color and a heightened contrast style to lighten the basemap and coordinate with the dashboard colors. You can use this blended basemap or use another basemap.

Update feature layer views

Note:
This workflow is optional and doesn't need to be completed in order to work with the solution.

The Crime Problem Management solution includes feature layer join views that are used to display information in the Problem Response Coordinator.Join views are created using the Join Features analysis tool by joining two sources together based on a matching field. The benefit of the join view is that it remains up to date as the source data changes. However, if a user wants to add new fields or update domains in the source layer, the join views must be deleted and then re-created with the same name and URL for the dashboards to continue working properly.

To add a field to a layer and the update the join views, complete the following steps:

  1. Browse to the join view in your contents (for example, CrimeProblemResponses_reportjoin).
  2. On the item Overview page, scroll to the URL section. Click the Copy button.
  3. Paste the copied URL into Microsoft Notepad or another text editor for reference.

    Note:

    The feature layer name will be used below when re-creating the join. The name can be found after services in the URL structure and may also contain a unique GUID, for example, CrimeProblemResponses_reportjoin_f27c8d3cf9b04c9da3cf7c0df014daf7.

  4. Delete the existing join view (for example, CrimeProblemResponses_reportjoin).
  5. Browse to the source hosted feature layer item page, and from the Data tab and Fields subtab, add a new field to a layer (for example, the Crime Problems layer in the CrimeProblemResponses hosted feature layer). If domains need to be modified, they can be modified at this point.
  6. From the App Launcher, browse to Map Viewer Classic and add the source hosted feature layer to a new web map (for example, CrimeProblemResponses).
  7. Click Analysis > Summarize Data > Join Features.
  8. Configure the join using the following table:

    Name of joinTarget layerLayer to join to the target layerFields to matchJoin operationDefine which record is kept

    CrimeProblemResponses_reportjoin

    CrimeProblems(CrimeProblemRespopnses)

    ResponseActivityReports

    GlobalID = responseid

    Join one to many
    Note:
    Ensure each new join view uses the names defined in the table. If you use the same names, the layers in the map and the existing dashboard widgets do not need to be reconfigured. If your join view contained a unique GUID, the new join view will need to be named with the unique GUID.
  9. If necessary, uncheck Use current map extent and check Create results as hosted feature layer view.
  10. Update the web map and app configurations for Problem Response Coordinator to account for the new fields you added to the layers.

Manage performance

Note:
This workflow is optional and doesn't need to be completed in order to work with the solution.

Some organization have a large volume of Crimes and Calls for Service data and adjustments can be made to enhance dashboard performance. By default, the solution looks at 365 days of data by using a filter on the feature layer view; however, if you notice that your dashboards are not updating as quickly as you would like, consider updating the solution to look at 28 days of data by updating the filter on the crimes_dashboard and callsforservice_dashboard hosted feature layer view.

In general, if you find the map and dashboard are performing slowly after loading a large number of features, rebuild the spatial index of the Crimes and Calls for Service layer.

Provision users

The Crime Problem Management solution enables secure viewing and editing privileges to users based on their roles in the crime problem management workflow. To ensure privileges are appropriate to the needs of each user role, the Crime Problem Management solution includes several role-specific sharing groups for analysts identifying problems, district captains planning problem responses, district lieutenants coordinating responses, command staff monitoring progress, and monitors, and successes for sharing with the public and external stakeholders. These groups are pre-configured with the layers, maps, and apps each role needs to perform their functions within the solution.

Add named user accounts to the corresponding groups, by completing the following steps:

  1. Sign into your ArcGIS Organization.
  2. Click Groups.
  3. Search My Groups for Problem.
  4. You will see the following groups: Problem Identification, Problem Response Planners, Problem Response Coordinators, Problem Response Monitors, Problem Response Successes.
  5. Click the group you want to invite users to.
  6. Click Invite users and add individuals performing that function to the group.

Share items with the public

The Crime Problem Management solution includes Problem Response Successes, An ArcGIS Dashboards app used by police agencies to share successful problem responses with the public. In order to make this app accessible to the public, the app and its associated map and layers must be shared publicly.

  1. Sign into your ArcGIS Organization and browse to the Problem Response Successes app.
  2. Open the item page and click Share.
  3. In the Share window, click Everyone (public) and click Save.
  4. Repeat steps 1 through 3 to share the following items with everyone:

ItemName

Web Map

Problem Response Successes

Feature Layer (hosted, view)

Crimes_public

Feature Layer (hosted, view)

CallsForService_public

Feature Layer (hosted, view)

CrimeProblemResponses_public

Feature Layer (hosted)

District

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In this topic
  1. Organize your data
  2. Load data
  3. Configure Problem Identification project
  4. Configure layers and maps
  5. Provision users
  6. Share items with the public