ABSTRACT
It is helpful to distinguish between acute and chronic hot spots. Acute hot spots show abnormal spikes in crime, which may decline automatically, while chronic hot spots have persistently higher crime levels than other areas. There are three basic forms of chronic hot spots, each of them linked to particular theories and types of responses.
Hot dots are locations with high crime levels. These show crime concentrated at facilities or at addresses of repeat victims (see Steps 26 and 27). Multiple crime events at places are represented by dots.
Hot lines are street segments where crime is concentrated. These might occur, for example, if vehicles parked along particular streets suffer high rates of break-ins. Multiple crimes along street segments are shown with lines.
Hot areas are neighbourhoods where crime is concentrated. Hot areas arise for a variety or reasons. Area characteristics may give rise to crime. Or an area may be hot because it contains many separate and discrete problems. On maps, hot areas are typically shown as shaded areas, contour lines, or gradients depicting crime levels.
The figure depicts these three forms of hot spots. Troublesome entertainment locations are shown as dots because the assaults are located at addresses. Vehicle break-ins, however, are along continuous street segments, so this concentration is shown as two intersecting lines. Finally, the graduated contours for the residential hot spot suggests that risk for break-ins is highest in one small area but declines as one goes away from the centre. The dots within this graduated area depict repeat burglary locations.