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    The influence of weather on local geographical patterns of police calls for service


    Brunsdon, Chris and Corcoran, Johnathon and Higgs, Gary and Ware, Andrew (2009) The influence of weather on local geographical patterns of police calls for service. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 36 (5). pp. 906-926. ISSN 1472-3417

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    Abstract

    The effect of weather elements on the incidence of different types of crime has been the focus of a number of research studies. However, the detailed geographical dimension of this relation-ship has been largely ignored. The aim of this paper is to broaden the research on weather and crime to consider the effect of weather parameters on the spatial arrangement of crime within an urban area of the UK. A novel combination of techniques that are capable of both evaluating statistically and visualising geographically the effect of weather variables on the incidence of one type of crime, namely calls for police service for disorder or disturbances, is presented. These techniques are examined in relation to the theories that have traditionally been put forward to explain such trends. We conclude that, in our study area, both temperature and humidity exert significant effects on the spatial patterning of incidents of disorder or disturbances. Rainfall, wind speed, and wind direction were found not to have a significant effect for this type of call for service. More research is needed to see how transferable these findings are to other geographical areas with different climatic regimes.

    Item Type: Article
    Keywords: weather; geographical patterns; police calls;
    Academic Unit: Faculty of Science and Engineering > Research Institutes > National Centre for Geocomputation, NCG
    Item ID: 5888
    Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1068/b32133
    Depositing User: Prof. Chris Brunsdon
    Date Deposited: 20 Feb 2015 10:32
    Journal or Publication Title: Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design
    Publisher: PION
    Refereed: Yes
    URI:
    Use Licence: This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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