Spatiotemporal Pattern of Crime Using Geographic Information System (GIS) Approach in Dala L.G.A of Kano State, Nigeria

This study explores the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and spatial database of crime characteristics which helps in the determination of hotspots in Dala LGA of Kano State and also it identifies the challenges facing police departments that seek to implement computerized crime mapping systems. Different data sources were used, data from the Nigerian Police Force ( Dala and Jakara Division) of 2008 – 2010. For this study, the crime was divided into four categories: offence against person, offence against property, offence against authority and offence against local act. The spatiotemporal distributions of the crimes from the three years were analyzed. ArcGIS version 9.3 was used for the analysis and results reveal that crime rate is higher outside the city wall while the rate increased from time to time especially in the year 2010. There are more hotspots outside the city wall. It also shows that crime doesn’t occur closer to police stations, but seldom occur around outpost police stations. The buffer zones of 2Kms were used and it analyzed that places like kurna, Gobirawa and YanMata are in need of Police Stations.