Arizona State and Local Government Documents Collection

The general goal of this report was to collect data on citizens’ needs for information about neighborhood crime patterns and trends, terrorism, and public emergency planning and response in the western region of the Phoenix metropolitan area. There was particular interest in obtaining citizen feedback on data-sharing questions related to terrorism prevention.

As part of the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Smart Policing Initiative, the Glendale Police Department and the Center for Violence Prevention and Community Safety at Arizona State University found that convenience stores -- particularly Circle K's -- disproportionately contributed to crime and disorder in the city of Glendale. The Center reached out to other law enforcement agencies in the Phoenix metropolitan area, and in June 2011, they authored a report based on 2010 data from four cities: Glendale, Mesa, Phoenix, and Tempe. The 2010 report revealed that, when compared to other convenience stores Circle K’s, were disproportionately responsible for crime and disorder, regardless of their neighborhood or city.

Over the past year anecdotal evidence from media reports has suggested disproportionate levels of crime and violence occurring at Circle K stores in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Criminal events depicted by the media often took the form of individuals engaging in some type of minor criminal activity at a Circle K, and the events spiraling out of control. As a consequence of these observations, and subsequent federally sponsored research examining problem places in Glendale, Arizona, faculty and staff from the Center for Violence Prevention and Community Safety at Arizona State University reached out to several valley police departments and requested official data to more systematically examine this potential problem. This report presents our findings and our recommendations.

The AZDOHS provides strategic direction for enhancing regional capability and capacity to prevent terrorist attacks, enhance border security, reduce Arizona's vulnerability to all threats and critical hazards, mitigate and minimize the impact of threats and hazards, and further develop the ability to recover from all critical hazards that affect the safety, well-being, and economic security of the citizens of Arizona.

There will be an ongoing requirement that Arizona will assure border security operations are enhanced; and that the capabilities to address threats of terrorism, illegal border crossings, human and drug trafficking along the Arizona/Mexico border, and information-sharing among law enforcement entities (local, state, Tribal, federal) to prevent adversarial attacks are sustained.

The Strategic and Business Planning Process was initiated by the Arizona Geographic Information Council (AGIC) to promote innovative thinking and discussion on solutions that meet the geospatial requirements of Arizona. The process set out to define the organizational structure and business model that meets those needs, and relied on the geospatial community in Arizona. It also set out to identify how an Arizona Geospatial Clearinghouse can share geospatial data and GIS services to the benefit of the state and its constituents.