An Investigation of Geographical Distribution Characteristics of Crimes Committed against Property in Canakkale, 2007

The phenomenon of crime takes place in a space and process, in which various factors are influential depending on the human and physical characteristics of an environment. Due to this characteristic, the determination of spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of crimes is of importance for the measures to be taken. With the present study, it was aimed to show the spatial distribution characteristics of types of crime committed against property in Canakkale in 2007 and to evaluate the factors that were influential on this distribution. In the study, the addresses, where in the crimes had been committed, were transferred to maps and point spread and density maps were obtained. Furthermore, the distributions of crimes by month, day and hour intervals during a day as well as their relationships with some meteorological parameters were examined with statistical analysis methods. The obtained findings demonstrate the close relationship between the distribution of instances of crime in the city on neighborhood scale and the functional characteristics of neighborhoods. In addition, some statistically significant relationships were detected between the distribution of crimes and some variables. In the light of the obtained findings, some proposals were made regarding the prevention or reduction of some types of crime in Canakkale. So, through proposals, it was aimed to make contributions to the issue of where to take preventive and reducing measures that might be influential on crimes.