ABSTRACT
The measurement of crime is a necessity for any quantitative assessment of criminological theory or policy change. Crime counts are one measure of criminal activity often used in the spatial analysis of crime. This chapter reviews the literature on social disorganization theory, routine activity theory and their theoretical synthesis. It discusses the data and methodology employed and presents the results and discussion. The chapter shows that the ambient population estimates are important to incorporate into a spatial analysis of criminal activity. Crime counts are a measure of the volume of criminal activity. The different rates—residential versus ambient population-based—for the three types of criminal activity exhibit some significant differences. The data measuring criminal activity within Vancouver is the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) Calls for Service Database. The calls for service are telephone calls requesting police service that have been made directly to the VPD or through the 911 Emergency Service and allocated to the VPD.
