LPRC - CrimeScience – The Weekly Review – Episode 240 Ft. Jackie Lee, M.S.

Episode Date: June 19, 2026

In this episode of the CrimeScience Podcast, host Tiffany Frison welcomes Jackie Lee, M.S., to discuss her work in crime mapping, hotspot analysis, and other innovative initiatives aimed at advancing data-driven crime prevention. Jackie shares how spatial intelligence and emerging analytical tools are helping organizations identify risks, uncover patterns, and develop more effective prevention strategies. Tune in for an insightful conversation on the growing role of mapping and technology in creating safer environments.

Hi everyone and welcome to crime science. In this podcast, we explore the science of crime and the practical application of this science for loss prevention and asset protection practitioners as well as other professionals. Hello, hello, hello, everyone and welcome to this edition of the Crime Science podcast here at the LPRC. I am your host today, Tiffany Frizen. I'm a research Administrator here at the LPRC. And today we have a special episode kicking off a series called the Team Spotlight Series. And today our special guest is Jackie Lee, who works in GIS analyzing things here at LPRC.

So thank you so much for being here today, Jackie. It's an honor to have you on. Starting off, for those of our listeners who may not have come in coffee. contact with you yet? Can you just tell us a little bit about yourself and a little bit about your background? Sure. Hi, everyone. I'm Jackie Lee. I earned my master's degree in special data science from University of Southern California. Before joining our PRC, I work as a research intern at City of Hope, where I leverage GIS and programming skills to support healthcare research and improve insight into health care assessment. abilities. Awesome. So you moved here from California. Is that right? Yes. I won't get into the weather because,

you know, this podcast isn't so much about the weather, but Florida and California are a little bit different, would you say? Yes. It is very different. Well, we're very glad to have you at the LPRC. And then could you just tell us, like, how long have you been here so far? Um, um, um, um, with Oprosy for about a year. Oh my gosh. Wait, when was? is your work aversory? Do we know? The one month you started? May. May. Okay. Yeah. So it is just about a year. Awesome. Well, congratulations. Thank you. Happy and happy work anniversary. Okay. So GIS is the name of the game I hear. Can you tell us a little bit about the work that you do here at the LPRC? Yeah. So at the RPRC, my work involves integrating and managing special data, performing geographic analysis, and developing dashboard

and visualization that helps retailers, researchers, and law enforcement agencies better understand patterns and make decisions for that. Awesome. Yeah, and I know a lot of people find what you do very useful, so I know we're all very thankful to have you. So in the GIS area that you work in, there are a couple different types of visualizations. Could I say visualizations? Yes, you could say visualizations.

Could you tell us about those types? Sure. Some of the most common methods that I used include like hotspot analysis, criminal density, and heat mapping. And each method helps us, like, understand crime patterns from a different perspective. Also, well, they maybe look similar, but they really answer different questions. And, like, they could provide valuable insight depending on the problem that we are trying to solve. Awesome. Yeah.

So I want to dive into those things if we can. Is that okay? Yes. Okay. So first of all, you didn't mention Hot Spot. So can you tell us? about hotspot analysis and what it can be used for. So for hotspot analysis, like it is a statistical technique that identifies area where, like,

incidents are significantly clusters. Like, rather than simply showing where events occurred, it helps determine whether concentration are statistically minimal. Okay. Yeah, and it could be used to add to high-risk area in prioritize results and support, like, proactive crime prevention strategies. So instead of just showing where the point are dense, it asks a question about, is this area significantly different from the rest of the study area?

I see. Okay. Perfect. That's great. And then, so you also mentioned kernel density. And I will say, so there is a, like, just for everyone to know, there is a difference between hotspot. And we're going to get into these. A difference between hotspot analysis, heat mapping, and kernel density.

Yes, correct. Okay. Just so everybody's clear as we're going through all of this. Can we talk about kernel density and then what? kernel density analysis is used for and kind of how that's different than the other two. Yeah. So kernel density is a method that create a smooth surveys showing the concentration of events across the area. And it helps, like, review where incidents are more densely distributed in provide an intuitive way to visualize patterns that may not be obvious from individual points.

So kernel density is commonly used to identify areas of like elevate activity and communicate patterns to everyone. So the difference between kernel density and hotspot is kernel density shows where incidents are concentrated. So the answers, I mean, the question of kernel density will be where is more crying. Okay. Yeah. And for hotspot analysis, it shows. it shows statistically significant clustering. So the questions would be like,

rate is unusually high crime. Okay. Okay. So for hotspot, it's where is high crime, like, concentrated? Where is it located? It's like, they are located there, but it is unusually. Yeah. And you could understand, like, hotspot analysis provides statistical evidence.

Okay. Yeah, but for kernel density is more like the distribution of the points. Okay, I got to. Very good. So a lot of statistics, right? And data points. All right, so last but not least, let's talk about heat mapping. So can you explain what heat mapping is in general and then what it is specifically used for?

Okay. So, Hitmap are visual tools that use colors to represent intensity or volume. So area with warmer colors indicate high levels of activity. And cooler, color, represent lower levels. I use Hitmap a lot because it's very useful for quickly communicating where incident is unconcrate and are often using dashboard and presentation because they are easy to, like I said, to understand. And also the advantage. I'm sorry, advantage of hit mapping is, it is, it is, you could make it like real time. You'd have to run analysis every time. I see. Okay. So it's more

for like quick application or something like that. I see. Yeah. So you mentioned kind of already that you more than the other two use heat mapping in your work at the LPRC which and I know like and you mentioned to the like color colorization kind of part of it is there any difference in like the way that color is used in Hopspot heat mapping or kernel density I would say you could decide what color you want to to use, but for me, for heat mapping, I use yellow as it is very, a lot of points there. But for kernel density, I would choose maybe more different color. Like contrasting?

Yeah. Okay. Yeah, so it really depends on the presentation, visualization, and how you use it, how you choose the color. Okay. Very good. And then, so bringing it back to our members, of these three different types of methods of visualization, if I can speak, visualization, visualization. What do you think retailers would find the most useful out of the three?

I would say I use all three methods and for retailers I would say probably find heat maps the most useful because I mean heat map provide an immediately immediate visual understanding of where risks are higher and are easy to interpret also like you're in arch just online there's a methods if I could say if you add your layer, like every location on the map, there's a heat map options. If you click the Hitmap options, then the point will automatically transfer to Heatmap. Okay. So it is the immediate result that you could get. Okay. Yeah, and I know we were talking about this the other day.

and you were showing an example of points on a map. Yes. And how if you're using a point visualization, sometimes the concentration can be lost. Yeah. So, yeah, because especially in crime data, so each points represent one incidence. Right.

But there might have overlapping incidents that are not easily visible. So like no clear patterns or cluster is visible in the map, which need us to use heat map or kernel density to understand where it's the high-risk area. Right. Because, for example, if you're showing a map that has points instead of like the heat map or something,

it appears that it's just one incident as a point. but there might be several in that specific location. Yes. So this is one benefit of mapping and kernel density. Yep. Awesome. And then I wanted to ask too, so I know that these methods are used a lot in like kind of crime mapping and things like that. But are there any other areas that you could think or that you have experience with or that you know that these methods are also used?

used outside of like crime or or those kind of things yeah for hotspot analysis for example house rent or a classic case like neighborhood with high rent surrounded by the high rent neighborhood become hotspot okay yeah where like neighborhood with low rent surrounded by the lawrence neighborhood might become cold spots okay yeah so that will be very clear classic case for the hospital analysis. I see. Very good. Yeah, so kind of that, not quite cost of living, but like something along that lines. I see. Very good. And then I do want to talk about some of the recent work that you've been doing at the LPRC here. And I know, I don't know if our listeners are familiar, but a couple weeks ago, I think we had a fusion net,

live call focused on FIFA World Cup as it's kicking off now. Can you kind of talk about what you've done, what you've been doing with that? Yeah. So Fusion at Dashboard is a situational awareness dashboard developed by us to help retailers and everyone like to better understand and prepare for major events and potential risk. So it brings together information from multiple resources into one platform, like to provide a common operating picture. So for example, during large events like, like you said, FIFA Work Club, the dashboard can display game venues, fan festivals, retailer locations, weather information, and other reference

resource. So by having all of this information in one place, we could better understand what happening around them and make more informed decision. So the goal of the VisionNet is to improve information sharing and collaboration among retailers, law enforcement agencies, and like everyone. Yeah. Like helping us proactively address risk and enhance the safety. Awesome.

Yeah. And huge kudos to you for all. the work that you put into that. Yeah, and I wanted to plug too. So if anyone, because this dashboard is available to anyone. Yeah. It's public, right? So if anyone were interested in seeing it and looking at it and kind of getting into

the all of the information that's on there, what could they, could they reach out to you? Yeah, please reach out to me. So my email is Jack. Jackie.L at LPRC.org. Okay. Yeah, and I'll just say again, if you're interested in kind of getting into that Fusionnet dashboard email, Jackie at Jackie.com. Atl. At LPRC.org.

Yes. And then she can give you access to that dashboard. Awesome. And that actually brings us to the end of our. podcast today. Thank you so much, Jackie, for being here. It's been a pleasure. Thank you to all of our listeners. And then again, I'll just say if you're interested in the FusionNet dashboard, reach out to Jackie. And you can also see some resources about the Fusion Net call that we had and other things with FIFA on our Knowledge Center. So make sure to check those out as well.

And thank you all for listening. We'll see you next time on Crime Science Podcast. Thanks for listening to the Crime Science Podcast, presented by the Loss Prevention Research Council. If you enjoyed today's episode, you can find more crime science episodes and valuable information at LPRsearch.org. The content provided in the Crime Science podcast is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for legal, financial, or other advice. Views expressed by guests of the Crime Science podcast are those of the authors and do not reflect the opinions or positions of the Loss Prevention Research Council.