Crime has taken over the city: The belt of insecurity in Fortaleza, Ceará

Abstract

This study investigates criminality in Fortaleza, the capital of Ceará, using police incident reports to conduct a clustering analysis, which identified the existence of a kind of insecurity belt in the city. This insecurity belt is composed of neighborhoods that exhibit high crime rates, such as homicides, robberies, and thefts. The neighborhoods forming this zone are located in peripheral regions of the city, characterized by low income and poor infrastructure. Subsequently, Principal Component Analysis was employed to reduce the data dimensionality, revealing that the main factors related to criminality are poverty and low education. The complexity of the problem requires integrated public policies to address it, focusing on the aforementioned factors. The results provide a detailed view of the criminal dynamics in Fortaleza, revealing that more affluent areas are often surrounded by regions with high crime levels, forming an insecurity belt.