Development of GIS-based Regional Crime Prevention Index to Support Crime Prevention Activities in Urban Environments

In this study, we proposed GIS-based Regional Crime Prevention Index (RCPI) development method designed to support local governments with systematic crime prevention activities. The public interest in safe urban environment is increasing rapidly. The government is putting efforts into crime prevention activities to eliminate the criminal opportunities in advance. CPTED is method to prevent crimes in the city by improving environmental factors that cause crime. It is used by local governments to promote the crime prevention activities centering on the expansion of CCTVs and street lamps and the improvement of street environment. However, most policies were terminated as one-off programs and it is necessary to monitor the effect of such policies on a continuous basis. In order to alleviate issues, this study proposed RCPI as part of crime safety assessment in urban environments. The estimation of RCPI in City A of Gyeonggi-do showed relative differences in 31 districts (dong), indicating that it is also possible to evaluate the crime safety in the local community on the level of the administrative dong, the smallest administrative district in the urban environments. As a crime map, the RCPI will be used effectively as he reference to support the decision making process for local government in the future.