For those with an interest:
The Crime Mapping & Analysis Program (CMAP) is proud to announce the release of the Crime Analysis Unit Developer's Kit. The CAU Developer's Kit is a unique collection of documents, tools, and examples to assist in the design, creation, implementation, and expansion of any crime analysis unit. This assembly of information, examples, and software utilities is provided as a free public service by CMAP, a program of the US Department of Justice.

The Developer's Kit includes a variety of important articles and publications on analytical processes, procedures, and methods from acknowledged experts in the field. It also includes numerous examples of crime bulletins, routine products, work analysis, flowcharts, timelines, job descriptions, mission statements, internship announcements, statistics, and other materials that can be used as templates or starting points.

The CAU Developer's Kit contains numerous free software applications, including:

* Two GIS programs - A complete, self-contained desktop Geographic Information Systems.

* Two Geographic Profiling utilities - Dragnet-K, the stand-alone original GP software from the University of Liverpool, and Ian Oldfield's GP Spreadsheet for Excel.

* The Crime Analysis Spatial Extension - Tactical crime analysis tools for ArcGIS similar to the USGS Animal Movements Extension for ArcView.

* Two Link-charting programs - Network, organizational, flow, and linkage diagram design software utilities with analytical functions.

* Six Statistics programs - Complete and robust statistics as powerful as any expensive application.

* OpenOffice - A complete office program suite that includes a word processor, spreadsheet/grapher, relational database, presentation/slideshow, diagram tool, and mathematical modeling utility.

All software is provided free of charge by CMAP and the developers for use by the US law enforcement community.

Altogether, more than 100 files have been selected and packaged for this inaugural release of the Crime Analysis Unit Developer's Kit, a product of CMAP, the Crime Mapping & Analysis Program. Be warned, this is a very large download because it contains so much material - a smaller download, without software files, is also available for low-bandwidth users.

Please visit http://www.crimeanalysts.net and click on the Resources tab to download and install your copy of these useful tools and documents, or write to cmap@crimeanalysts.net to find out more.