Location of police facilities and the spatial distribution of reported crime in Ilorin, Nigeria

This study examined crime situation in Ilorin metropolis using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The specific objectives of the study were to: examine the spatial pattern of police facilities and reported criminal activities in the study area as well as determine the relationships between the spatial pattern of police facilities and pattern of reported criminal activities in Ilorin metropolis. Data were sourced from crime records of 10 consecutive years (2006 to 2016) used in the classification of the types of crime with respect to the spots of occurrences. An interview was also conducted with a police officer and 1m resolution QGIS open street images was geo-referenced and features such as roads, rivers and boundaries were extracted, Township-facilities, and police stations x, y coordinates were obtained using handheld GPS. QGIS version 2.18.3(2016) was used for the analyses. Results of the study revealed that there was variation in the distribution of crime between and within the sectors. A nearest neighborhood analysis showed that police stations were randomly distributed in the study area. Buffer zones were generated and the result showed that the central area was best served, the outskirt was moderately served, the eastern part of the metropolis was adequately served while the west and southern part were underserved. The study also identified that pattern of crime was irregular but mostly unique to each area because of the settlement function provided by that area and that police station were located to seamlessly combat crime in the hotspot of the city.