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Showing posts from May, 2011

Keep an Eye On Crime in Dublin, OH

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With the help of the Dublin, OH Police Department, SpotCrime is now mapping Dublin, OH! Dublin has an approximate population of 41k and is located just north west of Columbus.  The city is found in Franklin, Delaware and Union counties.  The city is home to the Memorial Golf Tournament which is a stop on the PGA Tour.  It also holds the Dublin Irish Festival, one of America's largest Irish festivals. Head to the 'Fighting Back Crime Maps' on ABC6OnYourSide.com to see keep up on recent crime stories in the Dublin area.  Recently, there were a spike in reported vehicle thefts .  Thieves were looking for easy access like unlocked garage doors and houses.  They have also found a way to use a wire hanger to open locked garage doors--probably from this YouTube 'how to' video! To prevent this little trick, you can place chicken wire around the electric door opener or leave on lights to make it seem like someone is home.  Also, make sure to lock your doors and rep

SpotCrime to Pay Criminals for Their Data

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Lately, there has been a lot of talk about who owns public crime data .  SpotCrime was even pursued after another company in Federal court over the issue .  There are many entities that are staking claim and proprietary ownership over crime data. Here at SpotCrime, we believe that if ownership is to be claimed then crime data belongs to the individual who produces the crime. Credit should be given where credit is due -- and we believe the originator of the crime should be able to claim copyright over the crimes they have committed.   SpotCrime will compensate a criminal when a crime report is created and used on our website.  SpotCrime will give a penny ($.01) for every crime report created by an individual. To be properly compensated, please follow the directions below: Head to your local police department Report to an officer each crime you have committed.  If you think a crime can qualify as more than one crime (for example, not only did you steal the car, but when driving a

Exclusive Crime Data Feeds to One Organization is Not Open Data

This post is a response to LA Times article by Ben Welsh regarding the Torrance Crime Map. Link Here   While I think the LA Times brings up important issues regarding what should be released in terms of crime data particularly rape offenses, I think it is also important to discuss that having the dominant newspaper in a city get an exclusive feed to crime data is not a long term positive for the public.  In LA for example, you have two players with exclusive data access to crime - The LA Times and the crime mapping vendor being paid by the city.  Both entities have economic incentives to keep their exclusive access to the detriment of the public. While there should be no expectation that either entity should not pursue their economic goals, it should be incumbent on the city and the police department to have policies in place that don't allow monopoly access to one or a few entities.   Allowing one or a few entities have monopoly control over timely public crime data allows those

Coweta County, GA--Mapped!

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Coweta County, GA is now on SpotCrime!  The county is part of the Atlanta metro region and is located just south west of the state capital.  The county seat is Newnan, GA and the county has a total population of almost 90,000!  Check out  SpotCrime  or  MyLocalCrime  to see crime that happens in your  Coweta  area.   Look close enough and you will see a cluster of burglaries at the top right corner of the map, just south of Palmetto. Zoom in closer and you can see where the burglaries occurred.  Three of the four burglaries were forced entry.  The burglary off of Collinsoworth road was the only non forcible entry.  Forcible entry is defined as entering into a building using any type of force.  This includes entry gained by breaking down a door to using keys, picks, skeleton key or mechanical device.  Non forcible entry is defined as gaining entry through an unlocked door or open window.  Check out our blog   here  about burglars to learn a little bit about what burglars want an

SpotCrime Full Screen Crime Map

SpotCrime : Full Screen SpotCrime Map SpotCrime.info

East Central areas of Alabama-Mapped!

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SpotCrime has four maps for East Central Alabama  areas! Auburn SpotCrime Map These maps include Auburn, Lee County, Opelika and Valley .  The population of this area is about 135k! Lee County SpotCrime Map SpotCrime is populating these maps from the help of OANow, a local newspaper , and local police departments. Opelika SpotCrime Map Interested in learning about crime in your East Central Alabama area?  Head to OANow to read stories, see mug shots and to view local SpotCrime maps .   OANow is a great way to stay up to date with what is happening in your neighborhood! Valley SpotCrime Map Make sure to sign up for your local crime alerts to stay informed about what occurs in your area.  Visit SpotCrime or MyLocalCrime to see a quick view of crime in your area.  Don't see your city on SpotCrime?  Let us know and let your police department know, we map for free! Stay aware and stay safe!

Wanna learn how to search by date range on SpotCrime?

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Here are some instructions that show you how to narrow your crime data search by date on our interactive maps. On the homepage , select the state that you want to search from the dropdown menu on the top right-hand side of the page. Once you've selected the state that you want, hit Go. I'm going to do a date range search in Jacksonville, Florida. Once you hit Go, a list of Florida cities are available to select from. To view the interactive map for Jacksonville, click Jacksonville Crime Map. As you can see, the interactive maps look a bit different from the map on the homepage. There are several features that allow you to narrow down your data search, including date ranges. I'm going to search all available data for the dates of April 25th-May 2nd, 2011. Select the from date and the to date, then hit Refresh Map. Once the map is refreshed, only the crimes that fall within the dates of April 25th and May 2nd appear.

Big Day for SpotCrime! Over 250,000 Subscribers and NBC NYC Coverage

Great day for SpotCrime today.  We've reached 250,000 subscribers late last night.  Thanks everyone for signing up and please provide feedback when you get the chance.  Your input helps us improve.  And, if we are not getting data from your local Police or Sheriff department, please ask them to share with us.  We'll map and provide alerts for free. NBC NYC did a story on SpotCrime last night.  You can see the video here: http://www.nbcnewyork.com/on-air/as-seen-on/New_App_Tracks_Crime_by_Neighborhood_New_York- 121382328.html And here: http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Neighborhood-Crime-Watch-Goes-Digital-121363264.html Thanks Tom Llamas