Interactive crime map keeps Riverdale Park residents informed

Community can see where crimes occur

The service, which only the police department can enter information into, will not only keep residents informed about what’s going on in their neighborhoods, but also act as a visual tool to help police officers identify and address problem areas. The service is part of Utah-based Public Engines, which helps governments share data with their communities.

‘‘It reminds [me] of the days of ‘Hill Street Blues,’” Chambers said, referring to the 1980s police drama. ‘‘The last thing that they said was ‘Check your pin maps and hit the street.’ And that worked.”

Each morning, town staff will publish incidents from the day before, providing near-real-time information including the type of incident, date and time it happened, the block where it occurred and any other information that would help the community. Chambers said she eventually wants to add information like suspect descriptions and photos.

‘‘We want to put the information out there to help the residents,” she said.

In one weekend there were two home burglaries in Leonard Sander’s Madison Hill neighborhood. If a situation like that occurs again, he said, he believes the mapping tool will prove useful.

‘‘I’m hopeful that it will be helpful. Anything to help alleviate the anxiety you feel when someone’s house is broken into. You feel violated,” he said, adding that two burglaries in the same weekend in his neighborhood was unusual. ‘‘Hopefully it will generate more patrols.”

Mount Rainier Police Chief Michael Scott, who said he plans for Mount Rainier to also begin to use CrimeReports.com, said there are many benefits to having the technology.

‘‘If you give an officer a list of crimes, it will take him [a while to identify trends],” Scott said. Having a visual tool will help officers identify where they need to focus their patrols, making them more effective. ‘‘Cops like to be effective,” he said.

Archer said he hopes all of the surrounding jurisdictions will soon begin to use CrimeReports.com.

‘‘It’s rare to be able to find a tool that both increases the amount of information available to the people of the community and also make the police department better able to do their job,” Archer said.

The town has uploaded information dating as far back as Jan. 1, 2008, but plans to continue to enter information going back one full year.

E-mail Maya T. Prabhu at mprabhu@gazette.net.