ISSUED: 17 January 2019
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — The Shepherd University Department of Sociology and Geography is hosting a monthly video conference lecture series about careers in criminology and criminal justice. The first lecture, “Crime Analysis and Crime Mapping,” will take place Wednesday, January 30, from 12:10-1 p.m. in Erma Ora Byrd Hall, room 103, and will feature Dr. Shefali Tripathi, a certified senior police planner at the Gainesville Police Department in Florida. The event, which is free and open to the public, will include a 30-minute talk followed by a 20-minute discussion period where the audience can ask questions.
Tripathi’s lecture is intended to educate in-service law enforcement personnel, individuals from the community involved in crime prevention, and students in criminal justice programs. This lecture will introduce the audience to crime analysis and touch upon the types of crime analysis, crime mapping, types of crime maps, and crime analysis as a profession.
Tripathi works in the Gainesville Police Department’s research and planning unit. She specializes in law enforcement planning, crime analysis, crime mapping, and justice data analytics. She has more than 17 years of advanced spatial analysis experience in law enforcement, criminal justice, urban planning, and allied fields. Tripathi’s recent work has focused on strategic planning, gang mapping, juvenile justice, and disproportionate minority contact.
Tripathi is a Senior Research Fellow at the Police Foundation in Washington, D.C., where she serves as a science advisor and subject matter expert in crime analysis and crime mapping. She is a certified program reviewer for the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) CrimeSolutions.gov and evaluates NIJ/DOJ funded criminal justice programs and a trained geographic profiling analyst.
Two other video conference lectures focusing on various aspects of criminology and criminal justice are planned for February 27 and March 20. For more information, contact Dr. Chiquita Howard-Bostic, chair, Department of Sociology and Geography, at chowardb@shepherd.edu.
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