Dr Eric Halford1
1Rabdan Academy, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Introduction
Domestic burglary remains a high volume / high impact crime form. Police services recognize that burglary affects victims at a deeply personal level and as such, they place a high level of prioritization on preventing and reducing such crime. This presentation presents an innovative framework for the police to increase effectiveness in this area.
Method
The presentation is built on recent research that reinvigorates research into traditional police hotspot responses based on theories such as near repeat victimization, to predict future crime locations, and drive tasking and coordination of police resources.
The presentation achieves this by describing results from emerging research based on optimal forager theory that examins offences committed by police identified foraging burglary offenders. The research uses methods of regression analysis to conduct crime linkage, geographical profiling to examine crime series, and criminal profiling to examine demographic and conviction characteritiscs of the foraging offenders.
Conclusion
The presentation frames discussion around the benefit of delivering a dual location based patrol strategy that emphasises simultaneous, offender and victim based patrol tactics.
By recognising burglary offenders and victims as ‘two sides of the same coin’, the discussion suggests that patrol strategies that simultaneously target the likely home or base of unknown burglary offenders, whilst retaining focus on the locations at the highest risk of burglary, greater potential to maximise burglary crime reduction benefits can be achieved.
To achieve this potential, this presentation highlights the benefits of law enforcement agencies integrating offender based theories of crime linkage, geographical profiling and emerging research on foraging burglary offenders into their analysis processes.
By combining the aforementioned with traditional victim based location theories, this presentation presents an enhanced framework through which police services can develop the systems and processes required to deliver a more systematic and comprehensive approach to reducing and preventing burglary crime.
Biography:
I am an associate researcher who spent over 20 year’s within law enforcement leadership, investigation, and intelligence operations. I have a broad background in strategic academic collaboration obtained over a decade of working within EBP. I have published research in a number of key areas including child safeguarding and the impact of COVID-19. My specialist area is the prevention and reduction of domestic burglary which is an area within which I conducted my PhD, have published several articles, and is an area I also spent a proportion of my police career in where I managed the law enforcement response.