By: Tima Younesirad, Wayne State University (Final Project, Intro to GIS, Fall 2020)

Based on explanations, carjacking is an undesirable experience that any citizen can have in public places. The Detroit News coined the term carjacking in 1991 and it remains a common crime across Detroit. Geographically locations of these incidents have a negative impact on every city, neighborhood, or public space and make them less popular for citizens. Long lists of topics are in a bilateral or unilateral relationship with this phenomenon. Topics like, Demographic aspects of crime location, Poverty, Unemployment, Blight, Education, and many other topics. The geographic aspects of Carjacking will help to illustrate the situation and making better decisions in this regard. Based on the data provided by the City of Detroit open data portal, 1,216 Carjacking Incidents Reported in the city of Detroit in calendar-years 2015-2017.

Carjacking aggregation map for census tracts shows that downtown and midtown Detroit are areas with higher risk of carjacking incidents.

Current data shows that more carjacking incidents happened during dark times of the day. Between 1,216 carjacking incidents that had data about the time of incident, 74% happened during nighttime (between 6 pm to 6 am), and 26% happened during daytime (between 6 am to 6 pm). Downtown Detroit area and more specifically commercial district streets are places that people experienced much more carjacking incident during night. And, between 891 carjacking incidents that happened during nighttime, 52% happened during between 12 am to 6 am and 48% happened between 6 pm to 12 am.

Detroit’s downtown and midtown are safer during the day especially between 6 am to 12 pm. Between 321 carjacking incidents that had happened during daytime, 51% happened between 6 am to 12 pm and 49% happened between 12 pm to 6 pm.