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Social Network Analysis and Crime Intelligence

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Social Network Analysis and Law Enforcement

Part of the book series: Crime Prevention and Security Management ((CPSM))

Abstract

The focus of this chapter is on whether or not intelligence analysts are actually applying social network analysis (SNA) in operational environments, and if they are, how are they using SNA? Using Klerks’ (1999, Connections 24(3), 53–65) three generations of network analysis development as a guide, the chapter determines whether analysts are using SNA or alternative network analysis methodologies. Attention then turns to how analysts are applying SNA, with a focus on the identification of key actors and network vulnerabilities, avenues of enquiry, link and attribute weights, and when during an investigation analysts apply SNA.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Interviewees from both Victoria Police and New South Wales Police Force use the terms ‘detective’ and ‘investigator’ interchangeably.

  2. 2.

    A k-core is ‘a subgraph in which every actor has degree k or more with the other actors in the subgraph. Hence in a 2-core every actor is connected to at least two other actors’ (Borgatti et al. 2013, p. 252). A k-core analysis is particularly useful for analysts who are looking at very large networks, but wish to focus on the core of the network. For example, once a k-core analysis has been conducted, the analyst can progressively remove actors who are one-core (who have a relationship with only one actor), two-core (who have a relationship with only two actors) and so on until they are left with just ‘the inner core of the network’ (Borgatti et al. 2013, p. 252).

  3. 3.

    Call charge records (also called non-content telecommunication) is data that is recorded by telecommunication equipment about communication transactions, such as phone calls, text messages (SMS), and image and video messaging (MMS). These records do not contain the content of the communication but other metadata, such as the date and time of the communication. In Australia, such data can be requested from telecommunication providers with a warrant. According to the Australian Federal Police, such records ‘provide important leads for agencies, including evidence of connections and relationships within larger associations over time, evidence of targets’ movements and habits, a snapshot of events immediately before and after a crime, evidence to exclude people from suspicion, and evidence needed to obtain warrants for the more intrusive investigative techniques such as interception or access to content. Disclosure of non-content telecommunications data is one of the most efficient and cost effective investigative tools available to law enforcement’ (AFP 2012).

  4. 4.

    The relationships between actors can also be shown as ‘directed’ and ‘undirected’ (Ball 2016). Undirected relationships are where they ‘logically must always be reciprocated’ (Borgatti et al. 2013, p. 12). Directed relationships can either be bi-directional (‘operate mutually’) or one-directional (as in one actor giving advice to another) (Ball 2016, p. 11; Borgatti and Foster 2003). In a link diagram with directed relationships, the lines connecting the actors will have arrowheads showing the direction of the relationships (or two arrowheads if the relationship is bi-directional). Of the numerous studies that have applied SNA to criminal networks, few have used directed relationships (Bichler et al. 2014; Skillicorn et al. 2014). There was also no mention made by the research participants regarding the use of directed relationships. For these reasons, they will not be examined in this study.

  5. 5.

    Ucinet, for example, is a publicly available network analysis software program that contains many more mathematical computations than Analyst Notebook (Borgatti et al. 2002). Analysts have difficulty accessing such tools for a number of reasons, including monetary constraints and security concerns.

  6. 6.

    For the purposes of this study an investigation is regarded as over when a brief of evidence is handed to public prosecutors. A brief of evidence is a collection of documents, including statements (from the police, victims and any witnesses), copies of any exhibits (such photos) and a transcript of an interview between the suspect and police that is handed over by the latter to prosecutors to use as potential evidence should they proceed to trial (NSW Government 2017).

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  1. Faculty of Arts and Education, Deakin University, Victoria, VIC, Australia

    Morgan Burcher

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Burcher, M. (2020). Social Network Analysis and Crime Intelligence. In: Social Network Analysis and Law Enforcement. Crime Prevention and Security Management. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47771-4_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47771-4_3

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