The spatial analysis of theft patterns in central district of Zanjan city by using the graphical-based statistical tests

During the recent years, examining the effects of urbanization on committing crime and social deviations has come to the attention of geographers and researchers. The present article is aimed at examining the influence of Zanjan's central district on the formation of crime patterns in Zanjan city and explaining the influential factors in the appearance of crimes in this region. The article is benefited from analytic- comparative method and also graphical-based statistical models and network analysis in Geographic Information System (GIS) to identify and to comprehend the crime spatial patterns in the central district. The required information of the amount and type of crime is received from the police in a library manner. The findings indicate that the hot spots in central district of Zanjan city have been distributed randomly. On the other hand, the high amount of commercial lands and shortage or lack of some lands in need of citizens such as parks which have made the official surveillance of these parts difficult, are efficacious in the increase of geographical distribution of the type and amount of crimes and also in forming crime spatial patterns. It seems that by organizing and enhancing installations, equipment and services per capita, establishing places for appropriate recreation and leisure, widening road network and locating police stations for increasing the official surveillance and physical reformation of residential places in this area, the possible vulnerability of these places and the amount of crime could be reduced.