Before You Are a Victim in Mexico: Police Strategies to Prevent Commercial Burglary Using Public Data

In a country where the majority of crimes remain unreported, uninvestigated, and unpunished, law enforcement faces considerable challenges in obtaining high-quality data that are consistent, reliable, and timely to effectively plan and deploy their strategies. By leveraging publicly available data,...

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Main Authors: Antonio Petz, Miguel Alejandro Flores
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-05-01
Series:Social Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/14/5/314
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author Antonio Petz
Miguel Alejandro Flores
author_facet Antonio Petz
Miguel Alejandro Flores
author_sort Antonio Petz
collection DOAJ
description In a country where the majority of crimes remain unreported, uninvestigated, and unpunished, law enforcement faces considerable challenges in obtaining high-quality data that are consistent, reliable, and timely to effectively plan and deploy their strategies. By leveraging publicly available data, this paper identifies high-vulnerability areas for commercial burglary within the Metropolitan Area of Monterrey, utilizing a variable that incorporates the key dimensions of routine activity theory in criminology. This is accomplished by constructing an index through principal component analysis, followed by spatially grouping the resulting variable using the global indicator of spatial association (LISA). The results allow us to focus strategies to combat commercial burglary on 16.82% of the studied territory and establish an order of priorities to address the most vulnerable areas one by one. Also, the results allow us to implement prevention actions in broader zones by generating clusters around areas that share similar attributes.
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spelling doaj-art-b8b9df3aa6f543d0ba7812e2d05ba8b02025-08-20T03:12:12ZengMDPI AGSocial Sciences2076-07602025-05-0114531410.3390/socsci14050314Before You Are a Victim in Mexico: Police Strategies to Prevent Commercial Burglary Using Public DataAntonio Petz0Miguel Alejandro Flores1School of Social Sciences and Government, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey 64700, MexicoSchool of Social Sciences and Government, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey 64700, MexicoIn a country where the majority of crimes remain unreported, uninvestigated, and unpunished, law enforcement faces considerable challenges in obtaining high-quality data that are consistent, reliable, and timely to effectively plan and deploy their strategies. By leveraging publicly available data, this paper identifies high-vulnerability areas for commercial burglary within the Metropolitan Area of Monterrey, utilizing a variable that incorporates the key dimensions of routine activity theory in criminology. This is accomplished by constructing an index through principal component analysis, followed by spatially grouping the resulting variable using the global indicator of spatial association (LISA). The results allow us to focus strategies to combat commercial burglary on 16.82% of the studied territory and establish an order of priorities to address the most vulnerable areas one by one. Also, the results allow us to implement prevention actions in broader zones by generating clusters around areas that share similar attributes.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/14/5/314commercial burglaryhot spotscrimeprincipal component analysispolice
spellingShingle Antonio Petz
Miguel Alejandro Flores
Before You Are a Victim in Mexico: Police Strategies to Prevent Commercial Burglary Using Public Data
Social Sciences
commercial burglary
hot spots
crime
principal component analysis
police
title Before You Are a Victim in Mexico: Police Strategies to Prevent Commercial Burglary Using Public Data
title_full Before You Are a Victim in Mexico: Police Strategies to Prevent Commercial Burglary Using Public Data
title_fullStr Before You Are a Victim in Mexico: Police Strategies to Prevent Commercial Burglary Using Public Data
title_full_unstemmed Before You Are a Victim in Mexico: Police Strategies to Prevent Commercial Burglary Using Public Data
title_short Before You Are a Victim in Mexico: Police Strategies to Prevent Commercial Burglary Using Public Data
title_sort before you are a victim in mexico police strategies to prevent commercial burglary using public data
topic commercial burglary
hot spots
crime
principal component analysis
police
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/14/5/314
work_keys_str_mv AT antoniopetz beforeyouareavictiminmexicopolicestrategiestopreventcommercialburglaryusingpublicdata
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