Cmpd Exploration
CMPD Exploration - Project 1
Exploring Neighborhoods Using CMPD data
Today, I completed my first project for my data mining course. I love this course because we have the flexibility of choosing our own data and the projects are individual rather than a group project. This is a great way to use my skills. For this project, I revisited the CMPD (Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department) dataset. I used this data more than a year ago for a shiny App project. The current data set contains 688,973 observations with 29 features. It covers a timespan from 2017 - 2024.
For this project, I explored how crime has evolved over time in different neighborhoods and how location (such as open field, department store, hotel/motel, etc.) of the incident within neighborhoods effectives crime. To answer these questions, I used the CMPD_PATROL_DIVISION and the PLACE_DETAIL-DESCRIPTION columns to examine these trends over time. By determining communities that are experiencing higher than normal levels of crime and specific location, the city, local law enforcement, and community can help allocated resources, develop plans and support community outreach to support all neighborhoods.
After our analysis we were able to see that the University City area in Mecklenburg County has had the highest overall incidents of crime since 2017. Theft from motor vehicle was the number one type of crime committed in the county including within University City. Although, in other neighborhoods crime was nearly equally likely to be committed in either a private resident or apartment/duplex, in University City a crime was significantly more likely to happen it you lived in an apartment/duplex.
The data is missing more details about types of crime committed. For example, “All other offense” is one of the largest categories, but we don’t know which offenses are in that category.
The data is also missing info about the suspect. I am curious about the age of the suspect, level of education, number of past offenses and whether they lived in the division (neighborhood) the crime was committed in. I wonder if crime is just a crime of opportunity, and you know you can get away or if it’s planned out from the beginning.
CMPD Incidents Project’s Webpage