NCJ Number
227518
Journal
Law and Order Volume: 57 Issue: 6 Dated: June 2009 Pages: 20,22,24
Date Published
June 2009
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article describes the features and uses of CrimeReports.com, which provides law enforcement agencies with an affordable, easy-to-use Web-based service for managing and controlling crime data in near real time.
Abstract
CrimeReports enables participating law enforcement agencies to manage and control their own data and determine what information they consider appropriate to share with the public. Although CrimeReports.com allows its departmental subscribers to specify their own crime classifications, the site offers a default structure of 15 general crime-type categories and 21 subcategories of crime and calls for service based on UCR/NIBRS definitions. For each crime incident, data details the date and time the crime occurred, the type of crime, the location, the incident identifier number, and the police agency and beat in whose jurisdiction the crime occurred. CrimeReports.com presents the data on a Google-style map, with each type of crime location marked with distinctive flags. The ability of this software to map crimes allows senior police managers to deploy resources to areas with concentrated crimes "hot spots." The events on the map can be sorted by crime, by date, or by distance. Currently, 310 police and sheriff's agencies across the United States and Canada have subscribed to CrimeReports.com. These agencies now have the means to deliver crime reports directly to the residents of their jurisdictions in near real time and at a fraction of the cost of traditional mapping tools. Access to CrimeReports.com is free to the public and includes automated e-mail crime alerts. Law Enforcement agencies can sign up for a monthly subscription fee that enables them to publish any and all crime and call data they wish to share with the public.