ASSESSMENT OF CRIME IN BELÉM-PARÁ-BRAZIL

Abstract

In recent years in Brazil, a significant increase in crime and violence has been observed, making it important to study public safety in the academic and political spheres, since it is a phenomenon that is reflected in the individual's social behavior. In this context, it is aimed to understand how the distribution of crime occurs in the municipality of Belém-Pará, in the years 2017 to 2019. This is a quantitative exploratory study carried out in the neighborhoods of Belém-Pará, using data regarding the number of police reports of the crimes of (i) theft; (ii) robbery; (iii) homicide; (iv) robbery and (v) bodily injury followed by death, as well as population and territorial characteristics. To measure crime in each neighborhood, we used the Bayesian Average Bayesian Double Weighted Standardized Crime Index for Neighborhoods represented by the spatial distribution of crime levels in the neighborhoods of Belém-Pará. It was found that most neighborhoods in Belém presented, during the period studied, low crime levels. However, 7 neighborhoods stood out with high indexes. It is hoped that the methodology employed and the results obtained can contribute to the development of efficient strategies in the fight against criminality by the public security agencies in the neighborhoods that presented the highest levels of criminality.