Citing Our Data

Citing Our Data

Crime Hotspots data is freely available for use in journalism, academic research, and policy analysis. This page provides citation guidance and required disclosures.

Recommended citation format

For journalism:

Crime data: Crime Hotspots (crimehotspots.com), sourced from verified regional media reports. Data retrieved [date].

For academic research (APA-style):

Crime Hotspots. (2026). Crime data for Trinidad & Tobago, [time period]. Retrieved [date], from https://crimehotspots.com

For reports and policy documents:

Source: Crime Hotspots (crimehotspots.com) — media-derived crime incident database for the Caribbean. Data as of [date].

Required disclosures

When citing Crime Hotspots data, you must disclose:

1. The data is media-derived: our figures reflect reported crime, not official police statistics. This must be stated if you are comparing our data to official figures.
2. The retrieval date: crime counts change as new incidents are added retroactively. Always state when you accessed the data.
3. Geographic and temporal scope: specify the area(s) and time period(s) you are analysing.

What you should not imply

• That Crime Hotspots data represents complete or official crime statistics
• That the absence of a record means an incident did not occur
• That percentage changes in small-area data represent statistically significant trends

Key pages for researchers

The following pages provide structured, citable data:

• Statistics — annual crime rates, YoY comparisons by type, Caribbean benchmark, crime profiles by region
• Murder Count — YTD murder total, annualised rate, monthly breakdown, historical year comparison
• Compare Areas — side-by-side area metrics including risk scores and crime type breakdowns
• Dashboard — aggregate incident counts, top areas, crime breakdown by type

All pages include the data retrieval date in their freshness indicators.

Data for researchers: bulk access

If you need bulk data for a research project, contact us with:

• Your name and institutional affiliation
• A brief description of your research
• The dataset parameters you need (country, date range, crime types)

We review bulk data requests on a case-by-case basis. We may request a copy of the published work for our records.

Academic partnerships

Crime Hotspots is open to formal academic partnerships for research into Caribbean crime trends, media coverage patterns, or crime mapping methodology. Contact us to discuss.

Press and media inquiries

Journalists may use our data without prior approval, provided the required disclosures above are included. For interview requests or detailed data briefings, contact us via the Contact page.

See also: Data Sources and Data Coverage and Limitations.