Crime Ridges: Exploring the Relationship between Crime Attractors and Offender Movement

In this paper we present a new approach in the analysis of crime patterns by creating a formal framework for merging the concepts of crime attractors and the pull of certain locations on offender movement. This directionality, inherent to city infrastructure, underlies the decision processes of offenders when choosing movement paths towards attractors. We explore the aggregate movement patterns of offenders within six municipalities of metropolitan Vancouver. In particular, this research focuses on the relationship between multiple strong crime attractors, offender movement and the formation of crime ridges. We use a visualization technique to show how the flow of offenders towards crime attractors creates associated crime ridges connecting the crime attractors.