Locational Analysis of Police Station and Crime Spot in Ikeja Lagos Nigeria

Abstract

Insecurity compromises safety of lives and properties; threatens the quality of life, desecrates human rights, destabilises social and economic milieu and thwart sustainable development. Many researchers have employed economic variables, social factors, and value change to determine the causes of crime without considering the relationships between location of police stations and crime spots. Geographic Information Systems was employed to collect coordinates of locations of police stations and crime spots. Nearest Neighbour Analysis was employed to determine the spatial pattern of police stations and crime spots. There were 13 police stations and 11 crime hotspots in Ikeja LGA. Residents covered a distance of more than 2km to access police stations, while majority of crime spots were less than 1km from police stations. Location of police stations close to crime spot alone cannot solve the issue of crime; therefore sufficient equipment should be provided by government to curb crime in Ikeja LGA.