Fighting Crime with Mathematics

This is an interesting article about a young mathematician who is using techniques from seismology to build crime-prediction models.

http://www.wmbfnews.com/story/13492456/man-uses-math-to-thrwart-crime

The basic idea is that crimes are more likely to be committed in geographical clusters, much like how afterschocks of earthquakes occur around the epicenter of the original quake.  Such patterns have already been identified in burglaries and gang violence.

By looking at the data from crime reports and 911-calls, better predictions can be made about where and when crimes might occur.  That way resources–police officers, in particular–can be deployed more efficiently.