WebCAT: the design and implementation of the Web-based crime analysis toolkit

Abstract

Based on its recent studies, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) identifies information exchange as the most vital need of law enforcement agencies around the United States. Research by the Virginia Institute for Justice Information Systems (VIJIS) at the University of Virginia has also revealed the need for statistical analysis of criminal incident data. In order to address the need for information sharing and cross-jurisdictional analysis between different law enforcement agencies in a given region, VIJIS in conjunction with the Systems and Information Engineering (SIE) Department at the University of Virginia authorized the development of the Web crime analysis toolkit (WebCAT). This application integrates an XML-driven database along with a geographic information system (GIS) and other analysis tools through a free, Web-based interface.