U.S. flag
      An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.
        Here's how you know
      Here's how you know**Official websites use .gov**
            
            A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
      **Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
            
            A **lock** (
            A locked padlock
            ) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Menu

      
        close

            
            
                                              About NIJ
        
                    
  
          About NIJ
      
    
          The NIJ Director
          How NIJ Is Organized
          Mission and Guiding Principles
          Research and Development Process
          Strategic Framework
          Assessments of NIJ
          Annual Reports & Reports to Congress
          Staff Directory
          Funding & Awards
        
                    
  
          Funding & Awards
      
    
          Current Funding
          Forthcoming Funding
          Expired Funding
          Awards: Listing of Funded Projects
          Guidance for Applicants and Awardees
          Fellowship & Student Programs
          Travel Scholarships
          NIJ Challenge Program
          Library & Multimedia
        
                    
  
          Library & Multimedia
      
    
          NIJ Journal
          Podcasts
          Publications Listing
          Multimedia Listing
          Rated Practices on CrimeSolutions
          Rated Programs on CrimeSolutions
          Software & Databases
          Datasets
          Patents
          Topics
        
                    
  
          Topics
      
    
          Article Listing
          Corrections
          Courts
          Crime Prevention
          Crimes
          Drugs and Crime
          Equipment and Technology
          Forensic Sciences
          Youth Justice
          Justice System Reform
          Law Enforcement
          Tribal Crime and Justice
          Victims of Crime
          Events
        
                    
  
          Events
      
    
          NIJ 2024 Research Conference
          Scheduled Events
          On-Demand Events
          Research Meetings & Workshops
          NIJ-Hosted Online Training

                            
                                About
          Contact Us
          Subscribe
          Topics A-Z
                  Share
FacebookXLinkedInRedditPinterestEmail Home
 Evidence-Based Practices and Strategies: Risk Terrain Modeling

March 25, 2020
Review the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy
See reuse policy
Speakers
        Jonas Baughman, Captain, Kansas City Police Department (MO)
Captain Baughman of the Kansas City (MO) Police Department answers the question “What is risk terrain modeling?” and explains how it differs from crime mapping, what resources his agency deploys at high risk areas, and the results he has seen form using risk terrain models.
  
  
          Transcript
Simply stated, Risk Terrain Modeling is a spatial diagnosis technique where we try and put a lot of environmental risk factors, as they’re called, on a map. So risk factors are the features of any given landscape, neighborhood, city that these—that you’re trying to address and think where crime may occur. So these can include things such as convenience stores, liquor stores, bus stops, you name it. If you can put it on a map and you think it’s contributing to a crime problem, it can be considered risk factor. And then you map all these risk factors individually and then essentially you smash them all together. And where these risk factors are very close to each other or even in the same place such as at the same intersection, that will give you a higher risk score as it’s called and those are the areas where police want to devote their resources, municipal departments want to devote their resources. Even, you know, community groups, faith-based organizations, anyone that has a vested interest in true public safety.

I think that’s actually one of the advantages, in as much that these Risk Terrain Models as they’re called, you don’t have to include any crime data, no arrest data, no calls for service data, it’s all environmentally based. So if you’re to literally hop in a police car and drive to—yes, it may be a high crime area, but you’re stopping at an intersection, take a look around, again those convenient stores, bus stops, but it could be anything, libraries, parks, fast food restaurants, again, anything you can put on a map. So you don’t have to know where crime has occurred so—because again it’s more of a diagnostic prevention and dare I say forecasting tool.

We use a lot of different of our resources. Some are very traditional, so yes, even though it’s very much a crime prevention tool, what we’re trying to do is get away from just appear, you know, car checks, pedestrian checks, which if we find someone offending in one our focus areas as they’re called, yes, we’ll enforce the law, you know, and whether it’s taking a person into custody, whatever the case may be. But again we’re trying to be more preventive as well. So we have social workers for example. Our chief of police brought social workers on a few years ago. We can embed them into these high-risk areas as well to see if there are challenged families, for example, that may need some help. We have community interaction officers, they can make more outreach with business owners, community groups to see what they feel was driving risk in their areas.

As for some of the results we’ve seen with this current project deploying RTM, we’re very happy to report that we have 12 focus areas, as we call them, focusing on violent crime and all 12 are seeing reductions in the target crimes of homicide, aggravated assault, armed robbery, and strong arm robbery. The percentages vary from about, you know, six percent but some are in the fifty percent range as well. But in virtue of keeping a true, you know, rigorous application of this we have some control areas as well. Three of those four areas have actually shown crime increases for those same categories and one is completely flat. So we are very confident overall that what we’re doing is in fact making a difference and down the road we hope to continue to bring more academic rigor to the analysis to make sure that what we’re doing in these specific focus areas is in fact gaining the results we want.
    
  
Disclaimer:
              Opinions or points of view expressed in these recordings represent those of the speakers and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Any commercial products and manufacturers discussed in these recordings are presented for informational purposes only and do not constitute product approval or endorsement by the U.S. Department of Justice.
  
Date Published: March 25, 2020
    
          Side navigation
  

        

  
  
              NIJ Journal
    
      
            
            
            
      Podcasts
    
      
            
            
            
      Publications Listing
    
      
            
            
            
      Multimedia Listing
    
      
            
            
            
      Rated Practices on CrimeSolutions
    
      
            
            
            
      Rated Programs on CrimeSolutions
    
      
            
            
            
      Software & Databases
    
      
            
            
            
      Datasets
    
      
            
            
            
      PatentsCampus Sexual Assault Responses (CSAR): Informing Trauma-Informed Policies, Protocols, and Training
                  Impact of COVID-19 on School Safety - Roundtable Discussion,  NIJ Virtual Conference on School Safety
                  Tragedy to Transformation: Preventing School Violence with Proven Programs - Plenary Presentation, NIJ Virtual Conference on School Safety
 Top

      National Institute of Justice

        
        
                        About NIJ
                    About NIJ
      
    
                  How NIJ Is Organized
      
    
                  NIJ Director
      
    
                  Research Disclaimer
      
    
                  Funding & Awards
                    Funding & Awards Home
      
    
                  Awards Listing
      
    
                  Current Funding
      
    
                  Guidance for Applicants and Awardees
      
    
                  Resources
                    Events
      
    
                  Podcasts
      
    
                  Publications
      
    
                  Topics
      
    
                  Multimedia
      
    
                  Reuse Policy
      
    
                  Contacts
                    Contact NIJ
      
    
                  Staff Directory
      
    
                  Submit a FOIA Request
      
    
                  File a Civil Rights ComplaintFacebook
          
                      X
          
                      YouTube
  

      810 7th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20531
      
              Secondary Footer link menu
            Accessibility
              Plain Language
              Privacy Policy
              Legal Policies and Disclaimer
              No FEAR Act
              Freedom of Information Act
              USA.gov
              Justice.gov