Crime Pattern Chart

As discussed in Chapter 3, a crime pattern is a group of two or more crimes reported to or discovered by the police that is treated as one unit of analysis because (1) the crimes share one or more key commonalities that make them notable and distinct, (2) there is no known relationship between victim and offender, and (3) the criminal activity is typically of limited duration (IACA, 2011b). The International Association of Crime Analysts (2011b) categorizes crime patterns into seven main types, both to structure the identification of patterns and to provide a common language for communication about patterns within police departments and their communities. The following are definitions of the seven types according to the IACA (2011b, pp. 3–4):

Series is a group of similar crimes thought to be committed by the same individual or group of individuals acting in concert. Examples: Four commercial arsons citywide in which a black male between the ages of 45 and 50 wearing yellow sweatpants, a black hooded sweatshirt, and a yellow “Yankees” cap was observed leaving the commercial structures immediately after the fire alarm was triggered; five home invasion–style robberies involving two to three white males in their 20s wearing stockings over their faces, displaying a silver, double-barreled shotgun, and driving a red 2000 to 2010 Honda Civic.

Spree is a specific type of series characterized by high frequency of criminal activity within a remarkably short time frame, to the extent that the activity appears almost continuous. Examples: A rash of thefts from autos at a parking garage over the course of 1 hour; multiple apartments in a high-rise building burglarized during daytime hours on a single day.

Hot prey refers to a group of crimes, committed by one or more individuals, involving victims who share similar physical characteristics and/or engage in similar behavior. Examples: five home invasion robberies of new immigrant Asian families occurring throughout the city over 6 weeks; seven fraudulent check scams targeting elderly victims over 1 week; 10 robberies, committed by different offenders, of intoxicated persons walking home alone from the bars on the weekend over 2 months.

Hot spot refers to a group of similar crimes committed by one or more individuals at locations within close proximity to one another (IACA, 2011b); it is also called a micro-time hot spot (Santos & Santos, 2015d). It is important to more clearly differentiate micro-time hot spots from long-term or macro-time hot spots (i.e., problem areas) since the micro-time hot spot is the most common type of pattern identified by crime analysts. Thus, a micro-time hot spot is the emergence of several closely related crimes within a few minutes’ travel distance from one another (i.e., micro-place) that occurs within a relatively short period of time (i.e., micro-time)—a crime “flare-up” (Santos & Santos, 2015c). Examples: four daytime burglaries over the past 2 weeks at a suburban residential subdivision, with no notable similarities in method of entry or known suspects; 10 commercial burglaries over the course of 3 weeks at businesses located within a 0.5-mile radius during overnight hours.

Hot setting refers to a group of similar crimes committed by one or more individuals that are primarily related by type of place where the crimes occurred. Examples: seven late-night robberies of 24-hour convenience stores throughout the city by different offenders over 2 weeks; five burglaries of duplex homes adjacent to the same abandoned railway bed over a single weekend; 10 thefts from commercial vans/trucks parked at night in residential neighborhoods over 3 weeks.

Hot place refers to a group of similar crimes committed by one or more individuals at the same location. Examples: a local movie theatre that has experienced 10 thefts from auto, three incidents of graffiti on the building, and two strong-arm robberies in the parking lot over the course of 1 month; an apartment community that has experienced two stranger-on-stranger sexual assaults, one drug-related shooting, and five residential burglaries within 3 weeks.

Hot product refers to a group of crimes committed by one or more individuals in which a unique type of property is targeted for theft. Clarke (1999) coined this term, defining hot products as “those consumer items that are most attractive to thieves” (p. 23). Examples: four thefts of handguns taken out of vehicles at residential and commercial places in 2 weeks; 15 burglaries of vacant homes and construction sites in which only copper wiring and piping was taken over 6 weeks; 10 thefts of laptops and smartphones occurring across one college campus during the first month of school.

It is important to note that these pattern types are not mutually exclusive (i.e., a pattern can be more than one type). However, when deciding which to assign to a pattern of crimes, the type with the most specificity should be chosen. For example, if a pattern is identified in which the same suspect is robbing convenience stores, it is both a series and a hot setting. The analyst would title it as a series because that title provides more specific information about the pattern in that the same suspect is more specific than the same type of place