The Crime Analyst’s Companion

This volume presents a collection of essays from experienced crime analysts from around the world. It explores themes relevant to anyone embarking on, or already into a career in crime analysis.

Divided into two sections, this book addresses technical issues central to the profession, from collection of data to presenting findings to reluctant audiences. It incorporates a collection of methodological case studies, demonstrating the ways analysis has made a meaningful difference to policing and security.

This volume is intended for scholars who study and work with crime analysts, the global community of undergraduate and graduate students who may take one of these roles in the future, and law enforcement.

Dr Matthew Bland is an Associate Professor in Evidence-Based Policing at the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge, a Research Fellow at the Cambridge Centre for Evidence-Based Policing and a fellow of the Academy of Experimental Criminology of the American Society of Criminology. At the university, he supervises the dissertations of senior police leaders in the Police Executive Programme. He is the Trial Director for the national pilot of polygraph testing for domestic abuse offenders and has managed and contributed to experiments on offender management, hotspot policing and out-of-court disposals. His research focuses on domestic abuse, prediction algorithms in policing and exploratory analyses. He previously worked in policing for 15 years as a Head of Analysis, during which time he completed both a master’s and a PhD in criminology at the University of Cambridge.

Dr Barak Ariel is a Professor of Experimental Criminology at the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge, and an Associate Professor at the Institute of Criminology in the Faculty of Law, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is a fellow at the Jerry Lee Centre of Experimental Criminology and at the Division of Experimental Criminology of the American Society of Criminology, which he presently chairs. Ariel has been involved in dozens of experiments representing a wide range of issues in law enforcement, including organised crime, offender management, counterterrorism, legitimacy, neighbourhood policing, restorative justice, domestic violence, crime and place, body-worn cameras, tasers and the broader use of technology. Much of this body of work appears in over 100 academic articles and books. Ariel sits on multiple evaluation panels and has served as an adviser to policing and security agencies around the globe, reviewing their impact evaluations and evidence-based practices largely through randomised controlled trials.

Natalie Ridgeon is a Performance Analyst working for Norfolk and Suffolk Constabularies in the East of England. She has been a practising crime analyst and researcher since 2014 during which time she has covered a variety of operational and strategic topics including victim surveying, tactical assessments and performance framework development.