Challenges Behind Access to Crime Data

Here is one example of how SpotCrime attempts to get data and the headwinds we face.

Back in 2011, our founder Colin Drane responded to a request that appeared in the Google Group ‘Geospatial and Crime Analysis Technologies - Resources’ by Susan Smith, then Crime Analyst of the Shawnee Police Department in Kansas. The request was regarding a project and requested information on Geospatial and Crime Analysis Technologies.

We offered to map crime data for free and received this terse response:

From: Susan Smith <SSmith@ci.shawnee.ks.us>

Date: Mon, Dec 12, 2011 at 10:51 AM

Subject: Re: Geospatial and Crime Analysis Technologies - Resources- SpotCrime

To: Colin Drane <colin@spotcrime.com>

Cc: Brittany Lambert <lambert@spotcrime.com>

Hi Colin,

I am familiar with your company. I just finished a 2-year study of the online crime mapping companies. Thus, I don't need your folks to map some of the data from the Shawnee log. We already have RAIDSOnline, which is free and extremely accurate, and absolutely love it.

I will be adding links to online crime mapping companies to the Information tab.

Thanks!

Susan

Susan C. Smith, BS, MBA

Certified Law Enforcement Analyst (CLEA)

Crime Analyst, Shawnee Police (www.cityofshawnee.org)

Vice President of Administration, IACA (www.iaca.net)

Past President, MARCAN (www.marcan.org)

Office (913) 742-6815

Cell (913) 302-4455

ssmith@ci.shawnee.ks.us

The problem we encounter often is that we are treated like a vendor and not a member of the press. But, SpotCrime is not a vendor to police agencies. We are a public crime map, not a government controlled information source. We are part of the new digital press that happens to take public crime data and place that information on a map.

For hundreds of years, newspapers have presented a crime blotter on their pages. SpotCrime is a digital crime blotter.

What is the value of an independent crime map? It is the same value of an independent press.

Later, Ms Smith wrote a non-favorable report to SpotCrime using federal funds. Here’s the report - https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/239908.pdf

The report was part of a 2009 $2 million Federal grant provided by the Department of Justice for the study. The study was published in 2012. 

And finally, soon after the report was published, Ms Smith was hired by the company she championed. She also happens to be the President of International Crime Analysts Association. The crime analyst community is relatively small by our estimation.

This is one of many stories behind the challenges we face with requesting and opening up crime data across the US. Not only is the crime data vendor controlled, the vendor is given preferential access and heavily influences police agency personnel. We don’t have a problem with research and making crime analysis better or an attempt to make one national crime map. We do have a problem when access to public information is not fair, equal, or open.

That’s one of the reasons why we developed and released SpotCrime Catapult in 2013. Catapult is free software available to any police agency that allows them to pull and create a public crime data file. We will not take any ownership control of the program once it is installed, nor will we request exclusive access to the program. The only thing we ask is that the data pulled by Catapult be made available to everyone.

We’ve also created the SpotCrime Open Crime Standard (SOCS). With over seven years of working directly with residents, we’ve learned a lot about what residents want to see when it comes to crime data. SOCS lists the kind of information and formats that would work best when an agency is creating an open data file.

If you think your police agency would be interested in SpotCrime Catapult or SOCS, send us an email at feedback@spotcrime.com.