Characterizing the Temporal Regularities of Crime

Abstract

There are a lot of studies that show that criminal activities exhibit certain temporal and spatial regularities. However, they often focus on either specific cities or types of crime and cannot clearly explain the patterns for the crime. What are the temporal patterns at the microlevel spatial scale? How general? Understanding the regularities of urban crime is important because it can help us improve the economy and safety of the cities and maintain harmony. This study analyzes the theft and burglary crime data from five cities in the United States. We successfully find the spatiotemporal patterns of two types of crime in different time series across cities.