Kansas City Shares the Crime

• NCJ Number: 211916
• Date Published: 2003
• Length: 2 pages
• Grant Number(s): 96-MU-MU-K011
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description

Annotation

In the Kansas City metropolitan area, approximately 85 agencies have banded together to address the issue of information sharing by using the Internet, a "super database," and geographic information system (GIS) crime-mapping technologies.

Abstract

The Kansas City Regional Crime Analysis GIS (KCRCAGIS) was launched in August 1999, with assistance from the National Institute of Justice's National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC)-Rocky Mountain. It is the first regional crime-mapping project to include jurisdictions from multiple States. Prior to the creation of KCRCAGIS, 80 to 100 separate agencies that spanned 2 States and 10 counties had no information on the offense types, offender and victim characteristics, and crime locations in other jurisdictions. Recognizing the handicap of not being able to analyze broad geographic trends in crime, a committee of volunteers from various agencies was formed to discuss needs and solutions. A concept paper was developed and sent to every chief and sheriff in the Kansas City metropolitan area, requesting their consent for the committee to assume leadership in this endeavor on behalf of the agencies. With overwhelming support from law enforcement leaders, the committee contacted NLECTC-Rocky Mountain, which consulted with its Crime Mapping and Analysis (CMAP) Program, which provides technology assistance and introductory and advanced training to State and local agencies. The technical assistance included locating a designer for the KCRCAGIS application, hosting the test database, assessing the capabilities of the agencies who participated in the initial data collection and testing, and helping devise a plan to bring in more agencies and increase the speed of data submission. Full implementation of the project will take about 3 years.