From modelling the flow of poisons through the body ☠️ to analysing the trajectory of a bullet 🔫 to the statistical analysis of DNA found at a crime scene🧬; maths is used so much in forensics. We have already seen that maths is crucial in analysing any blood that is found at a crime scene🩸(part 1). We will now look at the importance of maths in the prediction and prevention of crime!
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But how can we possibly know when and where a criminal offence is going to take place?! Well, just like the rest of us, criminals can be very predictable. For example, a criminal is unlikely to want to travel a long way to commit a crime but is also not likely to want to do it right on their own doorstep. Using knowledge of crime patterns like this, with lots of data from past crimes, mathematical algorithms can be created to predict where and when crimes are most likely to occur! With this knowledge, police officers can be assigned to locations in the most effective way👮♂️👮. An example of this is the predictive policing company PredPol, which has resulted in a decrease in crime rate in several areas of the US. Even just knowing that this method is in place could deter any potential criminals and prevent a crime from happening in the first place! So bank robbers watch out…the police are armed with mathematics!
