Final answer:
Law enforcement and researchers have various tools to assess criminal activity, including K9 units, GIS for hotspot analysis and geographic profiling, and databases from court systems and police. These resources allow for the creation of crime maps and help in predicting future criminal behavior.
Step-by-step explanation:
Identifying the available resources to review criminal activity in an assigned duty area is essential for law enforcement and those studying crime patterns. Law enforcement agencies use a variety of tools, such as K9 units, to detect explosives or illegal substances in public areas.
GIS (Geographic Information Systems) is particularly valuable in crime pattern analysis, enabling the creation of hotspot maps by analyzing crime data and other relevant information such as the location of known offenders and demographics.
In the broader scope of research, information from court systems, police databases, and interviews with relevant parties plays a crucial role in understanding and preventing criminal behavior.
Geographic profiling adds a layer of sophistication to these efforts, using spatial patterns to predict where a criminal might strike next. Through crime mapping and analysis, GIS tools help in forecasting criminal behavior and assisting law enforcement in developing both long-term and short-term strategies.