Why is Public Crime Mapping Such a Powerful Tool?

To be honest, it’s not a very powerful tool.

We believe public crime maps are just the bare bones. Engagement and open data are more powerful tools.

Engagement is a key metric in determining if a product is successful or useful. We measure engagement by emails and visits. What good is a crime map if no one looks at it? 

SpotCrime is the most visited crime mapping site in the US. We have over 1 million views a month to our website and send out over 8.5 million email alerts a month. We’ve been able to reach this size without charging residents or a single police agency and without taking any federal funding or grants.

SpotCrime map on News4SanAntonio.com

We’ve found that one email alert is sometimes forwarded on to 100 community watch members.

Since we’re a free service and our main source of revenue is advertising and media partnerships with companies like Gannett and Sinclair, we have incentive to reach as many eyes as possible with crime information.

The information we post on our maps is just as important as the engagement. 

We estimate that not only are we the largest crime mapping site, we’re also the most comprehensive site for public crime information. We’ve been able to achieve this thanks to open data policies and laws popping up all over the US and world. 

Open data means that the information is free to use, reuse, and redistribute by anyone. Open data is not only imperative for SpotCrime, but communities across the world. 

We’ve seen a trend with crime data where a police department will contract with a proprietary vendor to publicly display crime information on a crime map. The vendor then locks up the data by placing a terms of use or restrictions on the data on their map. This leads to the data to no longer be open and gives the vendor preferential access and control over the information. Not only is this not open data, it’s not transparency.

A recent example of this is Columbus. The police department closed off the open feed this month that SpotCrime had been mapping for the past 7 years when they contracted with a vendor. We haven’t received a response from the police department if this is a permanent situation, so we’ll be asking our users in the Columbus area to reach out to their public officials to ask them to restore the open feed again (engagement!).

San Diego Open Data Mapped on SpotCrime

Another example is San Diego. After the public feed was turned off when the police agency contracted with a vendor, we asked our users to reach out. The feed was restored and made available to anyone via this site. We’re hoping to see this information on a San Diego open data platform when they pass their open data policy later this year.

So, when you think of an app or a crime map like SpotCrime, make sure to think about why it’s so important. Transparency is not a pretty map or app. It is equal and fair access to public data without restrictions. 

Is it using and promoting open data? Is it successful at engaging and informing the public? If not, reach out to your local officials and let them know you care about open data.