Automated criminal link analysis based on domain knowledge

Abstract

Link (association) analysis has been used in the criminal justice domain to search large datasets for associations between crime entities in order to facilitate crime investigations. However, link analysis still faces many challenging problems, such as information overload, high search complexity, and heavy reliance on domain knowledge. To address these challenges, this article proposes several techniques for automated, effective, and efficient link analysis. These techniques include the co-occurrence analysis, the shortest path algorithm, and a heuristic approach to identifying associations and determining their importance. We developed a prototype system called CrimeLink Explorer based on the proposed techniques. Results of a user study with 10 crime investigators from the Tucson Police Department showed that our system could help subjects conduct link analysis more efficiently than traditional single-level link analysis tools. Moreover, subjects believed that association paths found based on the heuristic approach were more accurate than those found based solely on the co-occurrence analysis and that the automated link analysis system would be of great help in crime investigations.

A review of data mining applications in crime

“…By modeling their performance, a clear and objective rationale is provided for further development as a viable path for improving crime investigation. Schroeder et al [38] proposed the Crimeless Explorer system, which combined several techniques, including co-occurrence analysis, shortest-path algorithm and the heuristic approach, to provide a better link analysis to assist crime investigations. In terms of enhancing investigation effectiveness for Indian police, Gupta et al [39] proposed a crime analysis tool with an interactive query-based interface to help the police in crime investigations.…”

The contribution of forensic science to the analysis of crime networks

“…The design involves both an ability to produce an expressive visual structure and an ability to properly model the situations encountered. Some authors note that a link chart does not solve the problem of information overload (Klerks 2001;Schroeder et al 2007). Indeed, link charts seem to work well when the number of entities and relationships represented is limited.…”

A comparative study of social networking approaches in identifying the covert nodes

“…CNA requires the ability to integrate information from multiple crime incidents where the relationships between crime entities are recognized using link analysis [5].…”

“…Jennifer Schroeder, Jennifer Jie Xu, Hsinchun Chen and Michael Chau [5] establish association path linking using heuristic methods in knowledge engineering which builds up a knowledge base that results in an inference engine. This paper implements a system called as Crime Link Explorer based on a set of structured crime incidents from Tuscan police department.…”