Dr Rick Adderley is an Honorary Fellow of the Department of Criminology at the University of Leicester. He has written an 8 lesson module for their MSc. Forensic Science and Criminal Justice Course.
Module Content
Lesson 1 – Introduction to data mining
- What is data mining
- The data mining and intelligence cycles
- From Data to Knowledge to Business Solutions
Lesson 2 – From data to modelling to prediction
- Data preparation (Statistical Evaluation, Data Selection, Data Cleaning, Transformation of data)
- Data Mining Algorithms
- Interpretation of results
- Data Visualisation
- Reporting
Lesson 3 – Data mining in an operational environment
- Different and disparate data sources
- Data pifalls
- Linked mining
- Data mining tools
Lesson 4 – Understanding criminal behaviour
- Environmental criminology
- Acquisitive Crime
- Crime pattern theory
- Routine activity theory
- Rational choice theory
- Spatial awareness of criminals
- Crime hot spots
Lesson 5 – Linking and solving crimes
- Mining modus operandi and offender description data
- Identification of crime series and linking crimes
- Suggesting possible criminals for undetected crimes
Lesson 6 – Mining Crime Scene Investigator (CSI) performance
- Understanding key performance indicators and their effect on detecting crime
- Predicting which crime scenes could yield the best possibility forensic recovery
Lesson 7 – Identifying relevant criminal networks
- Overt vs covert networks
- Structured gangs vs organic groups
- Combining networks from different data sets
- Resolving similar identities
- Resolving false identities
- Prioritising and targeting networks
Lesson 8 – Understanding criminal network dynamics
- Network metrics
- Mining sub-networks
- Discovering roles of individuals
- Discovering crime themes
- Disrupting criminal network activity
- Targeting relevant sub networks and individual criminals
