CRIME MAPPING (continued)

Other Resources

Other resources are available to help administrators of crime victim services in their efforts to use crime-mapping technology. The following programs are available to provide onsite technical assistance on GIS to VOCA administrators.

Technical Assistance

The Justice Information Systems Technical Assistance Program provided through SEARCH offers technical assistance to state and local justice agencies in how to acquire, develop, manage, improve, and integrate their automated information systems. SEARCH works with individual justice agencies (such as a police department implementing a new records management system or a court acquiring a new case management system) and with multidisciplinary groups of justice agencies to help them plan for and integrate their information systems at state, local, and regional levels. For more than 20 years, SEARCH programs have provided both onsite and in-house, no-cost technical assistance to justice agencies throughout the country. For more information, go to http://www.search.org/programs/technology/.

Criminal Justice Statistical Analysis Centers

The Justice Research and Statistics Association (JRSA) is a nonprofit organization created in 1974 to promote the use of research in policy decisions and to facilitate the exchange of criminal justice information among states. JRSA’s 50 constituent Statistical Analysis Centers are located in almost every state and territory, where they conduct objective analyses to meet planning needs and address statewide policy issues. The association also maintains a clearinghouse of state criminal justice research and programs, conducts multistate research, provides training and technical assistance, and convenes national conferences. For more information go to www.jrsa.org.

University Statistics and Research Center

An alternative resource for consultation could be a statistics and research center at a nearby college or university. Some examples are undergraduate or graduate schools of public administration, social work, criminal justice science, and public health.

University Statistics and Research Internships

Agencies that are interested in using crime mapping may want to recruit interns from the local university or college to help them in administrative and strategic planning efforts.