DOI: 10.3886/icpsr02929
title: Case Tracking and Mapping System Developed for the United States Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York, 1997-1998
title: Archival Version

description: This collection grew out of a prototype case tracking and
crime mapping application that was developed for the United States
Attorney's Office (USAO), Southern District of New York (SDNY). The
purpose of creating the application was to move from the traditionally
episodic way of handling cases to a comprehensive and strategic method
of collecting case information and linking it to specific geographic
locations, and collecting information either not handled at all or not
handled with sufficient enough detail by SDNY's existing case
management system. The result was an end-user application designed to
be run largely by SDNY's nontechnical staff. It consisted of two
components, a database to capture case tracking information and a
mapping component to link case and geographic data. The case tracking
data were contained in a Microsoft Access database and the client
application contained all of the forms, queries, reports, macros,
table links, and code necessary to enter, navigate through, and query
the data. The mapping application was developed using Environmental
Systems Research Institute's (ESRI) ArcView 3.0a GIS. This collection
shows how the user-interface of the database and the mapping component
were customized to allow the staff to perform spatial queries without
having to be geographic information systems (GIS) experts. Part 1 of
this collection contains the Visual Basic script used to customize the
user-interface of the Microsoft Access database. Part 2 contains the
Avenue script used to customize ArcView to link the data maintained in
the server databases, to automate the office's most common queries,
and to run simple analyses.
description: This collection grew out of a prototype case
tracking and mapping application that was developed for the United
States Attorney's Office (USAO), Southern District of New York
(SDNY). The SDNY is the federal prosecuting office for Manhattan and
Bronx counties in New York City, as well as Westchester County and
several other northern counties. The office's primary mission is to
investigate and prosecute federal crimes in these counties. The case
tracking and mapping application was developed for SDNY to move from
the traditionally episodic way of handling cases to a comprehensive
and strategic method. The purpose was to create a system that could
collect case information and link it to specific geographic locations,
and collect information either not handled at all or not handled with
sufficient enough detail by SDNY's existing case management
system. This would give SDNY the ability to cut across agency lines
and establish geographic connections between criminals and federal
cooperators. The system allowed an in-depth analytic capacity of the
entire federal landscape for the Southern District of New York.
description: The system that was created was an end-user
application designed to be run largely by SDNY's nontechnical
staff. It consisted of two components, a database to capture case
tracking information and a mapping component to link case and
geographic data. The case tracking data were contained in a Microsoft
Access database and the client application contained all of the forms,
queries, reports, macros, table links, and code necessary to enter,
navigate through, and query the data. The mapping application was
developed using Environmental Systems Research Institute's (ESRI)
ArcView 3.0a GIS. This collection shows how the user-interface of the
database and the mapping component were customized to allow the staff
to perform spatial queries without having to be geographic information
systems (GIS) experts. Part 1 of this study contains the Visual Basic
script used to customize the user-interface of the Microsoft Access
database. Part 2 contains the Avenue script used to customize ArcView
to link the data maintained in the server databases, to automate the
office's most common queries, and to run simple analyses.
description: Presence of Common Scales: None.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Visual Basic Script to Customize Case Tracking Data
DS2: Avenue Script to Customize Mapping Application
description: The user guide and codebook are provided as a Portable
Document Format (PDF) file. The PDF file format was developed by Adobe
Systems Incorporated and can be accessed using PDF reader software,
such as the Adobe Acrobat Reader. Information on how to obtain a copy
of the Acrobat Reader is provided on the ICPSR Web site.