SpotCrime - The Public's Crime Map

This may be a stretch, but we’ve been thinking about how the great Baltimore Fire and access to crime data are related. The Great Baltimore Fire spanned over two days in February of 1904.  It took the effort of 1,231 firefighters from 4 different cities to bring the fire under control that destroyed over 1,500 buildings in central Baltimore.  At the time, there were no set standards in the fire equipment used by fire departments nation wide.  Therefore,  the fire lasted for 31 hours because the departments that assisted the Baltimore Fire Department had hose couplings that could not fit Baltimore's hydrants.   Similarly, when a police department uses proprietary data distribution, it prevents others from hooking up and helping.  The data is supplied (like the water) but the manner in which the data is displayed (the hose couplings) is different.  Proprietary data distribution prevents others from using and publicizing the data, further hind...

At SpotCrime, we often request data from police departments that have purchased crime mapping systems.  Ostensibly, these crime maps displayed on the Internet are intended to distribute crime information to the public, but at this current time, almost every vendor that is contracted to map crime puts restrictions on access.  When we inform the police department that there are restrictions on access, about 50% of the time we find out that the department was not aware their vendor had restrictions preventing the press from republishing data.  A good majority of the time, we are able to access the data directly from the records system. The other 50% of departments abdicate responsibility to the vendor as if they are not responsible for the vendor they have contracted with to deliver public information.  Forgive the pun, but this is a cop out.  If you are contracting with a company to deliver public information to the public, shouldn't you be responsible for the ve...

Recently, there have been a string of sexual assaults against women in the Sunset Park/Windsor Terrace/Park Slope neighborhoods of Brooklyn, NY .  A total of 11 assaults since March.  The most recent occurred on Monday night when a man groped a woman after exiting the subway in Sunset Park.  Check out the crime listing we created to give a visual representation of where these assaults have occurred. To view the full interactive map on SpotCrime, head here  The NYPD does not believe the most recent crime is related to the 10 other sexual assaults.  But, since it occurred in the same area as the others, we decided to include it on our map. Picture from NBC New York coverage There have been 4 total sketches made from accounts from the victims.  Although all drawings are different, you can see some similarities in the race (possibly), hair color and nose of the suspect(s), which is why we think all of the incidents are related.  The man has been ...

SpotCrime always maps for free - meaning we don’t charge the police agency (we have no interest in selling any services to your police agency) and we do not charge the public.  We have a news model and, like any news organization, use advertising.  Our diabolical world domination goal is to get relevant, useful, timely crime information to everyone on the planet.   But, not everyone likes our approach to mapping.  We do have a simpler version of our crime map, MyLocalCrime.com , but that still may not be the best solution for everyone.  The best thing about the available technology in mapping is that it’s relatively inexpensive to map crime and there are many companies providing crime maps.  The problem is that not all departments make public crime data fully and easily accessible to the public. We’ve noticed that when a city or county makes their data available freely to everyone, without restrictions and in a table format  -- similar to DC , San...

Here at SpotCrime, we've been mapping crime for over four years now and have learned a great deal about how crime data is reported from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.    Along the way, we've encountered some steep resistance to getting crime data open to the public.  Thankfully, many cities have been bitten by the ‘open data bug’ and have started delivering their public data openly without restrictions.  However, there are still some cities whose crime data is still immobilized by restrictions.  Those restrictions usually come in a form of Terms of Use limiting what you can and can not do with your public data.  Even after four years, it is still unclear to us why crime data intended for the public would come with restrictions. At SpotCrime, we've come to view crime mapping as a means to an end.  With the ultimate goal of getting relevant crime information to the public, increasing awareness, trust in law enforcement, and hopefully increasing the...

SpotCrime – the most comprehensive online source for crime data – has become the most visited crime mapping website in the U.S., surpassing 300,000 subscribers. The company currently sends subscribers 3.5 million email alerts monthly. With its media partners and multiple websites, SpotCrime estimates more than 6 million people interact with the crime data the company generates each month. “The more people are aware of what’s occurring in their communities, the higher the chance that community will be proactive in the fight against crime,” says SpotCrime Founder and President Colin Drane. “Our goal is for SpotCrime to distribute crime data worldwide, decreasing crime rates and increasing peace of mind.” Through its proprietary model, SpotCrime pulls crime incident data from multiple sources, including state and local police departments and validated news sources, to produce a comprehensive record of local crime information. Drane estimates that SpotCrime will hav...

Thanks to the JSO, we've recently added more data to our SpotCrime Jacksonville map. Check out the map here http://spotcrime.com/fl/jacksonville Wondering were the most shootings occur in the city?  Check out the SpotCrime heat map.  There is more 'heat' where the shootings occur. SpotCrime Jacksonville Heat Map Zoomed in and with pushpins showing, you can see exactly where the shootings occur. SpotCrime Jacksonville Heat map with pushpins Looks like the center of the city is a place where a lot of shootings occur (assuming that more people live in the center of the city, this is normal) and the south and north sides look less violent.  Other areas that you should be aware of are circled below -- south west of the center around Normandy Blvd, south east of the city around Spring Park and east of the city between the Arlington Expressway and Atlantic Blvd. Other high shooting rate areas Sign up for you local crime alerts at SpotCrime or MyLocalC...

As of this morning, SpotCrime has reached over 300, 000 subscribers!  On average, we send 3.5 million crime alerts monthly! Since we've launched, we've realized that the greatest value of mapping crime is the network of people who view and interact with the data.  With our media partners , and multiple websites , we estimate over 6 million people interact with our data monthly. If no one views a crime map, what's it's worth? The more people aware of what's occurring in their community, the higher chance the community is proactive in the fight against crime.  Our ultimate goal is that SpotCrime effectively distributes crime data across the world, decreasing the crime rate and increasing a peace of mind. Are you signed up for your local SpotCrime alert yet?  Each email alert is made custom for each subscriber.  When you sign up for an alert, you can put in your address and a radius of choice.  So, unless there are subscribers with the same address ...

SpotCrime is now mapping Angelina County, TX ! Angelina County is located just north east of Houston, also known as ' Deep East Texas ' where currently, due to the dry weather, there have been numerous wildfires engulfing the area .  East Texas is considered the most western part of the Deep South and is more connected to the lower south states than the rest of Texas . Angelina County has a population of over 80k and it's county seat is Lufkin, TX.  SpotCrime maps crime data with the help of the Angelina County Sheriff's Department , which is also located in Lufkin.  The Sheriff's department's mission is to 'provide a safe and secure community to the citizens of Angelina County'.  With the new SpotCrime maps and alerts, residents can be more informed and better prepared about the crime that occurs in their area.  We believe that the Angelina County Sheriff's Department is taking a great step toward transparency and innovation by sending the...

Wondering how to get your police agency's crime data on SpotCrime ?  Well, if you have a computer, you can have a crime map.  No department is too small (or too big) for us to get on the map! SpotCrime offers free mapping and public distribution systems at no cost to police departments.  We have a news model with advertising which means we are never looking to upsell our products at a later date. The crime maps include useful features like the hourly updates to the map, date range search, crime type search, keyword search, a 'quick view' of crime in your area (via MyLocalCrime ) and, of course, free crime alerts for residents.  The crime alerts can be sent by email and/or SMS. Here are a few simple steps to see your city on SpotCrime. First, send us an email to feedback@spotcrime.com .  Let us know you'd like us to make a crime map for your area.  Make sure to provide your contact information and the police agency you are with.  We should c...

The original title of this blog post was- If A Crime is Mapped and No One Sees It- What's the Point? Roughly four years ago, I started SpotCrime in Baltimore as a hobby.  Baltimore is a particularly violent city, and as a transplant from Philadelphia, I wanted to know where the shootings were happening that I was hearing about everyday.  I also was personally enamored by the idea of crowd sourcing and envisioned the public interacting with crime data and helping law enforcement reduce crime. To answer the question - Why do We Map Crime?  SpotCrime maps crime to identify it's approximate location and deliver that information to anyone interested in crime information for the general area. Put simply, we map crime so we can deliver relevant information to those interested in being informed about crime. Today we send out over 100,000 crime alert emails a day and by next month will have 300,000 subscribers.   We are still amateurs in the crime mapping space d...

For anyone looking to create a crime map with a few specific crime events on SpotCrime, you can use our Crimelist System to generate a url for only those crimes you want to show. Here's an example: http://spotcrime.com/crimelist/13407744,13457161,13457142,13486131,13485485,13529022 Notice the 8 digit numbers separated by commas. Each crime in SpotCrime has a eight digit number in the url.  For this crime: http://spotcrime.com/crime/22599014-07b31af832243a16f246f05f92f86839 The identifier is 22599014. And for this crime: http://spotcrime.com/crime/22586072-903886ff6c2b9991925df686aa3c3724 The identifier is 22586072 To combine these two crimes, just add them to the url http://spotcrime.com/crimelist/ Here's the result: http://spotcrime.com/crimelist/22599014, 22586072 Here's a crime list of shootings in Baltimore this past Saturday: http://www.spotcrime.com/crimelist/22554834,22550951,22550933

Dear SpotCrime Subscriber, Early last week, we encountered two attacks to our servers.  The result of these attacks was an interruption of retrieving crime data for certain parts of the country and our regular crime details pages were shut down. As backup for events like these, we run two additional crime mapping websites SpotCrime.info and MyLocalCrime.com.  Both continued to run during the attack.   We are actively working on a solution, and should be fully operational today. If you experienced a broken url link over the weekend, those links should be working now. Over the last four years, SpotCrime has become one of the largest and most visited crime mapping websites on the Internet.   From time to time we are going to experience growing pains from the amount of visitors and the occasional attempt to shut us down. We currently serve over 6 million people monthly through our website, mobile apps, partners, and crime alerts.   Each month...

Interested in learning where people are signing up for SpotCrime?  Check out the map below.  It shows where signups occurred yesterday. As you can see, we are serving folks from all over the US.  Don't see your city on SpotCrime?  Contact your local police department and let them know about us.  We will map crime and send alerts for free!

Recently, there has been an increase in a violent trend with teenagers in rural areas - Flash Robs. Flash Robs are similar to Flash Mobs, except they are harmful and illegal.  In a typical Flash Rob, a group of teenagers enter a retail store and rob, assault and steal items from unsuspecting victims.  The less violent incidents involve stealing items from convenient stores.  The more harmful cases involve robberies and assaults against individuals. Below is a SpotCrime crime list of some recent Flash Robs that have made recent headlines.  Included are the flash robs in Philadelphia and DC.  Also included is the Flash Mob who robbed and beat victims in Milwaukee and Cleveland on the Fourth of July weekend. In Philadelphia, they have installed a curfew for teenagers to try to control the mobs.  Cleveland is working on something similar.  Is this a trend that you think will grow in the months to come or a simple fad that will fade away?  What ...

Live, work or play in Sunnyvale, CA ?  Check out the SpotCrime map to see what crime occurs in your area! Sunnyvale is located in Santa Clara County in the San Francisco Bay area, also known as Silicon Valley.  The population is about 140k.  The city is bordered by San Jose , Mountain View , Los Altos and Cupertino .  Tech companies, including Yahoo! , Ariba , Nokia (North American Headquarters) and Palm, Inc are headquartered in Sunnyvale .  Do not fear-there are no vampires in this town, however if you travel to fictional Sunny d ale, CA (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV show) I'm sure you'll find plenty of blood suckers there. MyLocalCrime map of Sunnyvale, CA Interestingly, Sunnyvale is one of the few US cities to have a Department of Public Safety , which means all personnel are trained firefighters, police officers and EMTs!  SpotCrime collects crime data from the Sunnyvale Dept of Public Safety to comp...

SpotCrime is now mapping Licking County, OH ! SpotCrime map of Licking County, OH Licking County is located north east of Columbus and has a population of about 145k!  The county seat is Newark (where majority of the arrests are on the map) and is named for the salt licks located across the county. Feel free to use to the map to learn about what crime happens in your Licking County area .  For example, to the eastern part of the county, there is a group of burglaries. Search completed using the SpotCrime incident search option . With their proximity to each other compared to other burglaries in the area, they appear to at least coincide if not be related.  Four of the five burglaries happened within a week of each other.  Seeing trends like these on a map near your home should encourage you to take your own preventative measures and steps against becoming a victim.  Check out this link or ...

State College, PA - Banners Reported Stolen from Penn State Natatorium; Public's Help Sought

SpotCrime maps have launched on the  Washington Examiner website , a daily newspaper in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.   The Examiner covers world, national, and local news and sports. You can find the SpotCrime maps on the Crime section of the Washington Examiner website.  There, you will find over ten maps for DC areas, including  D.C. itself, Alexandria (VA) , Prince George's County (MD) , Montgomery County (MD) and Fairfax County (VA) . Check out the crime section of the Washington Examiner to find out what local crime occurs in the Washington area.  Recently, in PG County , a firefighter has plead guilty to his part in the PG bribery scheme involving former executive Jack Johnson and his wife, Councilwoman Leslie Johnson. Don't see your DC area on the Examiner ? Don't see your city mapped on SpotCrime ? Let us know and make sure to contact your local police department and let...

Douglasville is a city in Georgia located just outside of Atlanta in Douglas County .  It is one of the fastest growing cities in Georgia and can now be found on SpotCrime ! Douglasville, GA SpotCrime map SpotCrime is mapping this information with the help of the Douglasville Police Department .  You can also find the SpotCrime Douglasville map on WXIA , along with other Douglasville news  under the Rowson Crime Scene.  The WXIA Crime Scene also has links to other crime maps in the Atlanta area . SpotCrime maps on WXIA Interested in learning what occurs in your Douglasville area?  Head to SptoCrime or MyLocalCrime and be sure to sign up to receive a map of crimes around a specified radius around your address (for free!) directly in your inbox!   Don't see your city or county mapped?  Contact your local police department and let them know we will map your area for free. Prevention is the best tool against cr...

We've noticed a reoccurring crime across the US--pharmacies being robbed of prescription drugs.  It's no secret the prescription drug addiction epidemic of the US is growing. But, now as it seems as the US begins to crack down on prescription abuse, the addicts are getting more desperate, robbing and assaulting pharmacies and pharmacists to get their fix.  According to the US Drug Enforcement Administration , armed robberies at pharmacies rose 81% between 2006 and 2010. Recent crimes involving a pharmacy on the US SpotCrime map  It appears these criminals are turning out to be more than just a typical crime ridden drug junkie.  The every day person may be given a false sense of security that a prescription drug is less harmless than a street drug because they are, after all, prescribed by a medical doctor.  These drugs include (but are not limited to) prescribed...

The SpotCrime maps have recently launched on the San Francisco Examiner's crime page ! The Examiner has included the SpotCrime maps on their website to help readers obtain a better understanding of where, when and what crimes occur in their San Francisco area.  In the crime section of the SF Examiner, you can also find the leading crime stories in the San Fran area.  You can find recent up-to-date coverage on stories like the man who stole a Picasso original from the Weinstein Gallery in broad daylight  on Tuesday! He has recently been named the "Preppy Sockless Picasso Thief" after a surveillance camera caught him walking down the street with the drawing in hand. Including San Francisco, SpotCrime provides maps for Oakland , Berkeley , Daly City , Fremont , San Jose , Richmond and Walnut Creek .   Interested in learning more about crime in those areas?  Be sure to check out SpotCrime on the San ...