This project illustrates that there is a statistically significant, albeit marginal impact that both community housing units and police stations have on crime rates, with the exception of police stations and their impact on homicides. This was done using the Generalized Linear Regression (GLR) tool. Additionally, there is clear evidence that assaults, break and enters and homicides cluster, as indicated by Global Moran’s I. During the course of this project, hotspot analyses were conducted to find the hotspots of these crimes and whether they overlap with the neighbourhoods identified as “Neighbourhood Improvement Areas” by the City of Toronto. The vast majority of hotspots are located in the downtown area, with only one neighbourhood identified as a “Neighbourhood Improvement Area.” However, what is most striking is that there were a significant number of cold spots designated as “Neighbourhood Improvement Areas.” This could be the subject of future projects, as the cause for this is not known.

This raises questions regarding the viability of the “Neighbourhood Improvement Areas” as these do not accurately identify the neighbourhoods in need of resources to prevent crimes. Additionally, the marginal effect that the increased presence of police has may lead to questions regarding the police’s effectiveness at reducing crimes as there may be other methods more effective than increasing the number of police officers.

Limitations regarding this project include the lack of data regarding police stations. This is problematic as that did not allow me to conduct a Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) in addition to the GLR. Additional limitations include the lack of data regarding the RCMP and the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and their presence in Toronto. There may also have been confounding variables that were not included in the analysis, such as unemployment rates. Another possible limitation could be that the population density of each neighbourhood was not considered.