The Identification and Spatial Analysis of Crime Hotspots Associated with Drug Offenses in the Urmia Border Town

Drug-related offenses are among the most rapidly evolving offenses and have become one of the most complex problems of human societies. Urmia city is one of the border towns of the country that has been exposed to many threats from drug crimes in neighboring countries with Iraq and Turkey. In the meantime, many social, political, economic, and cultural reasons have led to an increase in the population of addicts and, consequently, an increase in the demand for drugs and substances that cause families disintegration, expanding prostitution, and robberies and crimes related to narcotics. The purpose of the present study was to identify and analyze the spatial aspects of crime-related hotspots in the border town of Urmia. Using the capabilities of the GIS system, the spatial patterns of the formation of crime hotspots in the Urmia border region have been identified and analyzed. The research method is analytical-comparative. To determine the spatial distribution patterns of crimes, the average center test, standard deviation oval, clustering test, nearest neighbor indices, kernel density estimation and network analysis have been used. Pearson correlation test was used to study the relationship between population density and drug offenses. The findings show that spatial distribution of crimes committed in the Urmia border region follows a cluster and central pattern and is mainly in the districts 2 and 4 of Urmia. The results indicate that one of the most important of drug crime hotspots in the Urmia border town in district 4 and along the Khatam-el-Anbia, Eslamabad neighborhood 1, Reyhanabad, Vakilabad and Haji Pirlo roads and the second one identified by this method in Urmia district 2 is the area between the Badaki and Koshtargah neighborhoods, Baghe Rezvan and Islamabad 2. The final results showed that there is a direct relationship between population density in these areas and the rate of crime occurrence.