Theft is one of the most traditional crimes in human history. Among all types of theft crime, vehicle theft has been categorized to be the highest crime rate committed felony according to police authorities. The purpose of this study is to investigate the spatial and temporal distribution of vehicle theft occurrence. We investigated all vehicle theft cases took place in Chiayi city from May 2006 to April 2007. Through the data analysis of Geographic Information System and field survey, we mapped the spatial and temporal distribution of vehicle theft in Chiayi city, identified the location and recognized the characteristics of the vehicle theft hot spots. The main discoveries of this study are as follows： Vehicle theft in Chiayi City tends to concentrate in the central part of the city. Twenty-one hot spots are identified and discussed by two kinds of space units, neighborhood and 50 square meter. Vehicle theft occurs mostly in summer, and has it’s the the highest rate in July. The vehicle theft is observed to occur most frequently from 6 a.m. to 12 a.m.. However, the occurrence of vehicle theft may have different temporal distribution which varies from spot to spot. The occurrence of vehicle theft in each hot spots (neighborhood) took place in different central streets, which are located at business districts. The hot spots (50 square meter) are almost located at public places where are without monitoring. Motorcycle theft is the major part in the mass of hot spots. But some hot spots are exceptional. We also find that these exceptional hot spots are an abundance of parking space.

資料來源:http://handle.ncl.edu.tw/11296/ndltd/09741816736938807600