Fighting crime with math: Model explains hot spots of illegal activity

Using a decade of data from the Los Angeles Police Department, UC Irvine criminologist George Tita and colleagues developed a mathematical model of how urban crime hot spots form and spread. It reveals two distinct types of areas that respond differently to suppression tactics.

Illegal activity follows a discernible pattern, Tita says: “Criminals forage for opportunities to commit crimes, much like bees search for pollen or butterflies for nectar. Foraging patterns are predictable, whether you study human or insect behavior.”