GEOINFORMATICS FOR PLACES OF CRIME OCCURRENCES IN TIRUCHIRAPPALLI CITY, TAMIL NADU

This study is an attempt to investigate the places of crime occurrences in Tiruchirappalli city. It reveals that the places of crime occurrences are not always the same as the places of residence of criminals. The maximum of automobile theft (38.7%) of (79 cases), in the areas of Theppakulam, Periyasamy Tower, Sarathas Kadai, Chattram Bus Stand and Priyakammla Street in Fort range, theft (36%) of (54 cases) in and around of Central Bus Stand and Edamalaipattipudur in Cantonment range. Most of the residences of criminals are located in the northwestern of Woraiyur and central parts of Palakkarai in the city. Kernel Density Interpolation method resulted that the core of the city has been the hotspot of crime occurrences within the radius of 4 km from the Rockfort. This paper suggests to police department for identification of crime hotspots and crime prevention.


INTRODUCTION
The spatial pattern of residence of criminals charged with various sorts of crimes shows a striking variation from one part of the city to another. Criminologists and Geographers are progressively more aware of the importance of places of crime occurrences. A place is a very small area, usually a street corner, address, building, or street segment. A focus on crime places contrasts with a focus on neighborhoods. Neighborhood theories usually highlight the development of offenders. While place level explanations emphasize crime events, the place of occurrence of crime is usually not the place of residence of the criminal. There have been limited studies concerned about the places of crime occurrences such as Eck Eck, (1989) explained the concentration of crime among repeated places is more intensive than it is among repeated offenders; The index of crime concentration calculated with total crime rate of a particular police station and the total major crimes of the entire area by Mary Santhi, P. and Balaselvakumar, S., (2020); Sherman, L. W., et. al. (1989)  discussed the network hotspot detection of street crimes by integrating the NetKDE and the Getis-Ord GI* statistics for bike theft, car theft, robbery, and snatching. For an effective research on places of crime occurrences, we explore the hotspot maps for the given crimes. Therefore, this study intends to help the police administration to ensure that the identification of hotspots is as accurate and effective in order to prevent crimes in the city.

STUDY AREA
Tiruchirappalli city's base map had been framed from the Survey of India (SOI) Toposheets Nos. 58 J/9, 10, 13 and 14. The city lies between the latitudes 10° 43' 40''-10° 53' 00'' North and The topography of the city is relatively flat and its average elevation is 88 metres from mean sea level. Rockfort is the topmost hillock, it formed nearly 3,800 million years ago and it is marked as one of the ancient rocks in the world.
The river Cauvery and its distributary Kollidam facilitate Tiruchirappalli city also the city is fertilised by the Uyyakondan, Kudamuritti and Koraiyar canals. The land closely adjoining the Cauvery River, which crosses the city from west to east, consists of fertile alluvial soil deposits on which crops like paddy, banana and sugarcane are cultivated and in dry soil, finger millet and maize are cultivated nearby.
The Commissioner of Police is divided into four ranges namely Cantonment Range, Golden Rock Range, Fort Range and Srirangam Range. The jurisdiction of Commissioner of Police System has not been extended to cover the newly expanded areas. Since the entire study depends on data from Commissioner of Police Office and 18 police stations including four ISSN: 00333077 5877 www.psychologyandeducation.net AWPS, the study area has been restricted only to the geographical boundary of the city before expansion.

METHODOLOGY
The crime data relating to the places of occurrences for different types of crime such as robbery, theft, dacoity, automobile theft, snatching, cheating, housebreaking, counterfeit currency, crime against women, murder and male kidnapping was collected from the City Crime Records Bureau (CCRB) Tiruchirappalli City Commissioner of Police Office and from the confession statements obtained from the criminals arrested in 18 police stations jurisdiction during 2016.
Kernel Density Estimation interpolation technique was applied with the help of the places of crime occurrences to determine the hotspot of each crime in the study area. Partitioning technique was applied for grouping the crime incidents location to a specific number (K) of clusters ellipses with isolines. (

RESULT AND DISCUSSION OCCURRENCE OF ROBBERY
The occurrence of crime robbery was high in Srirangam range and the items that were robbed included gold chain and cash. The presence of temples, parks, hospitals, commercial areas and high-income residential areas and the commuting places with a high floating population provided more opportunity for the occurrence of robbery. Only 9.8% of robbery (6 cases) had been reported in Fort range, which includes the area in front of SBI ATM-Sankaran Pillai Road, the area in front of Jana Priya Grocery Shop, Marakadai, Sofa Repair shop and Pakkali Street of Beema Nagar ( Fig. 2 & 3).

OCCURRENCE OF THEFT
The occurrence of theft was high in Cantonment range and the nature of theft was pocket-picking of items such as mobile, cash, jewel, laptop, car and cattle. The presence of commercial areas, main bus stands, railway stations, cinema theatres and high-income residential areas provided more opportunity for the occurrences of theft. Only 6% of theft (9 cases) had been reported in Lakshmipuram, Ariyamangalam and Airport Bus Stops in Golden Rock range (Fig. 4).

OCCURRENCE OF AUTOMOBILE THEFT
The occurrence of automobile theft was high in Fort range. Automobile theft includes all kinds of vehicles such as cars, vans and twowheelers. The presence of commercial areas, shopping centres, main bus stands, worship places, park and market areas provided more opportunity for the occurrences of automobile theft.  (Fig. 5).

OCCURRENCE OF SNATCHING
The occurrence of snatching was high in Srirangam range. The types of objects snatched were gold chains and cash. The occurrence of snatching was more in banks, cinema theatres and isolated residential houses. The crime of snatching was reported in Srirangam and Cantonment ranges only.
Nearly, 66.6% of snatching (4 cases) in the city, had been reported in the areas of Ramalinga Nagar, Woraiyur, In-front of "B" Block (Fig. 4).

OCCURRENCE OF CHEATING
The occurrence of cheating was high in Cantonment range. The presence of commercial high-income residential areas and the commuting places with a high floating population provided more opportunity for the occurrences of cheating.
Nearly, 41.2% of cheating ( Only 2.9% of this crime (2 cases) had been reported in the areas of the airport and Kottapattu Indira Nagar in Golden Rock range (Fig. 6).

OCCURRENCE OF KIDNAPPING
The occurrence of kidnapping was high in Srirangam range. The presence of commercial, high-income residential areas and the commuting places with a high floating population provided more opportunity for the occurrence of kidnapping.

OCCURRENCE OF HOUSEBREAKING
The occurrence of housebreaking was high in Srirangam range and the items stolen during the housebreaking were jewels, cash and food items. The presence of commercial, high-income and isolated residential areas and places of worship like temples, provided more opportunity for the occurrence of housebreaking.

OCCURRENCE OF COUNTERFEIT CURRENCY
The occurrence of counterfeit currency (fraudsters) was high in Srirangam range area. The presence of various branches of banks (business area) and high-income residential areas provided more opportunity for the occurrences of counterfeit currency (fraudsters).
100% of the occurrence of counterfeit currency (10 cases) in the city, had been reported only in banks namely IDBI BANK Limited, Pattabiraman Salai, Thennur-Indian Overseas Bank and SBI Bank -Tonalsh Road in Srirangam range (Fig. 9).

OCCURRENCE OF CRIME AGAINST WOMEN
The occurrence of crime against women was high in Srirangam range area. The presence of commercial, high-income residential areas and the commuting places with a high floating population provided more opportunity for the occurrences of crime against women. The women were targeted near malls, restaurants and colleges. Offenders generally use cars to kidnap a woman as cars support them to remain unidentified by police. The criminals, who were usually the first-timers, frequently used the dim stretches to carry out the crimes and for movement of the cars.
Nearly Only 6.6% of murder (1 case) had been reported in the area of Shakul Street in Cantonment range (Fig. 11).

OCCURRENCE OF DACOITY
In 2016, only one case of dacoity was recorded in Srirangam range, in Theppakulam at Srirangam police station.

CONCLUSION:
The study of the spatial pattern of criminals indicates that the places of occurrence of crimes are not always the same as the places of residence of criminals. Kernel Density Estimation interpolation technique was also applied for places of crime occurrences to find out the hotspot of each crime. Property crimes such as theft, automobile theft, cheating, housebreaking and snatching are usually committed at some distance away from the residences of criminals because the criminals' area does not provide opportunities for these pickings. Most of the criminals' areas are generally characterised by bad housing, low income, overpopulation, unemployment and slums. Most of the residences of criminals are located in the northwestern and central parts of the city. Crime against persons such as murder and crime against women, on the other hand, are committed in the area where the criminals reside owing to the way of life in these areas. Kernel Density Interpolation method reveled that overall, the core of the city has been the hotspot of crime occurrences within the radius of 4 km from the Rockfort (Fig. 12).
In light of the above findings, it is suggested and recommended that the commercial and residential areas of poor, lower and middleclass neighbourhoods, markets, slums and temple areas in Palakkarai, Central bus stand, Sengulam, Puttur, Daranur, Kalmandai, Thillainagar, Singaratoppu, Teppakulam, Ponnagar, Sangiliyandapuram, Milaguparai, Woraiyur, Agraharam and Mela Chintamani need to be given more attention since these areas have been identified as the high concentration of crimes in the northwestern and the central parts of the city.
The high intensity of crime against women was identified in AWPS Srirangam of Srirangam range, AWPS Fort, Fort and Gandhi Market police stations, AWPS Cantonment, Cantonment and K.K. Nagar police stations of Cantonment range and a few cases in AWPS Golden Rock. These crime-prone areas should have a mechanism to monitor the infrastructures in schools, colleges and workplaces for ensuring safety and security of women. Women police officers, in sufficient numbers fully prepared with policing infrastructure, may be appointed in these areas.
The spatial patterns of crime maps of the city must be prepared periodically and systematically so that the police officials are in a better position to know the crime-prone areas, their growth, location, direction and their trend and patterns. They should also closely work with intelligent groups of the department to reduce the opportunities that are favourable to criminals. The crime forecasting procedure developed by mapping experiences may help in identifying the possible shifts over time. Finally, crime can take place anywhere and everywhere and anytime with anyone, if the crime rate is to be controlled and reduced from society, nothing would work better than counselling by social reformers and psychiatrists. If people are mentally corrected and morally improved the occurrence of crimes will automatically be reduced, if not completely eradicated.