Modelling high-intensity crime areas: comparing police perceptions with offence/offender data in Sheffield

High-intensity crime areas are areas where high levels of violent crime coexist with large numbers of offenders, thereby creating an area that may present significant policing problems. In an earlier paper, the authors analysed police perceptions of high-intensity crime areas, and now extend that earlier work by comparing the police's perception of where such areas are located with offence/ offender data. They also report on the construction of predictive models that identify the area-specific attributes that explain the distribution of such areas. By focusing on the city of Sheffield, the authors draw on a wider range of local area data than was possible in the original paper, and also question how widespread such areas may be in Sheffield.