It addresses the crucial issue of selecting staff and providing ongoing training opportunities for them as well as considerations to be made at the operational stages of the unit regarding data collection, collation, analysis, dissemination, and feedback. Emphasis is placed on the ability of crime analysts to interact and communicate with line officers, be innovative and flexible in their data collection and collation approaches as well as productive in creating and disseminating their analyses. Feedback and evaluation of the crime analysis unit is also deemed important for establishing its functionality within the departments. Two footnotes, a supplemental data source list for crime analysis units, and a checklist for assessing crime analysis products are provided.