SpotCrime - The Public's Crime Map

Crime is up...or down, the efficiency of AI and data in policing, the problem with stolen guns, transparency an antidote to fake news, plea bargains and bail a problem with the justice system, and more... POLICE CONDUCT Data shows Utah is ‘headed in the right direction’ with criminal justice reforms, report says (Salt Lake Tribune) St. Louis Police Continue to Cite Blacks for Marijuana Possession at a High Rate (Riverfronttimes.com) See also: Florida Police Issue Hundreds of Bad Pedestrian Tickets Every Year Because They Don’t Seem to Know the Law (ProPublica) Local law enforcement authorities support DACA in federal court (Houston Chronicle) In Alabama, an official’s use of public funds and behavior toward critics have raised questions about the broad powers of American sheriffs. (NYTimes) CRIME RATE Year-End Analysis: Crime and Murder Down in 2017 (BrennanCenter.org) See also: U.S. Crime Rate is Stable, Victimization Survey Says (TheCrimeReport.org) and also: ...

SpotCrime is now mapping crime in Boone, IA ! Crime in Boone, IA SpotCrime first reached out to the Boone Police Department with crime tips from users.  We run  crimetip.us , a free and anonymous crime tip service for police and residents. After learning that SpotCrime will map crime and send email alerts free of charge, Boone PD asked how to get crime data on SpotCrime. We got the data up on our map within a day! SpotCrime will now be getting weekly updates of crime directly from the Boone police department. Boone is located in central rural Iowa and has a population just over 12,000. The Boone Police Department employs about 25 officers and civilians, including K-9 Shocker. President Dwight D. Eisenhower's wife and First Lady of the United States, Mamie Eisenhower , was born in Boone. The Boone County Sheriff's office is located onWest Mamie Eisenhower Ave in the city! Make sure to check back in a couple of weeks. We will have enough data on the map for the si...

Jeff Sessions gets it wrong (again), AI and machine learning in policing, 2016 NIBRS data released, data on police shootings, the opioid crisis, and more... POLICE CONDUCT Research Shows Police Body-Worn Cameras Reduce Misconduct and Cost for Las Vegas (GovTech) Data on both fatal and nonfatal police shootings from the 50 largest local police departments in the United States (Vice) Autopsy Doctor Resigns, Says Sheriff Overrode Death Findings to Protect Officers (KQED) CRIME RATE 2016 NIBRS crime data released (FBI) Jeff Sessions misrepresented crime statistics from his own department's report  (NewsWeek) How we win the opioid war: Report (TheCrimeReport) See also:  NIJ Report: Opioid Crisis Is a Driver of Homicide Boom (Washington Free Beacon) CMPD, prosecutors call domestic violence an 'epidemic' (WBTV) Why is internet gambling a crime? (TheCrimeReport) Mass shootings aren't more frequent, but they are deadlier: Study (NBC Chicago...

WHAT IS AI AND MACHINE LEARNING? Artificial intelligence and machine learning are hot topic terms that are sometimes used interchangeably. Artificial intelligence (AI) is the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence. Machine learning is the field of computer science and application of AI that gives computers the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed through access to data.  Google’s DeepMind lab project ‘AlphaZero’ recently learned chess in four hours. It’s being labeled a ‘superhuman performance’ because not only did AlphaZero learn chess, it absorbed all data on the entire history of chess and then figured out how to beat anyone or anything in the game in one-sixth of a day. This type of technological advancement not only changes the way chess will be played, but it creates endless possibilities for technology that can be applied to other aspects of everyday human life. THE BIG DA...

NIBRS data 2016 NIBRS data was released this week. The data is available directly here on the FBI’s website . NOte that NIBRS is different than UCR. 2016 UCR data was released about a month ago. A lot of agencies are making the migration of UCR to NIBRS. We took a stab defining the difference between UCR and NIBRS a couple of years ago.   Check it out in a blog post here. Of the reported NIBRS offenses , 22.7% were crimes against persons, 14.8% were crimes against society, and 62.5% were crimes against property. More than half (52.4%) of the victims knew their offenders, but did not have a familial relationship to them. Nearly one quarter (24.3%) of the victims were related to their offenders. There’s an  array of information  included in the reports. You should check it out if you have time. For the purpose of this post, we took a deeper look at the data on offenses related to weapons. Overview of weapons data Each crime incident that involves a w...

Baltimore’s crime plan, tracking hate crimes across the US, officers involved in fatal shootings get jail time, fentanyl and the opioid epidemic, and more... POLICE CONDUCT Officer who fatally shot Walter Scott, Jr sentenced to 20 years in prison (DOJ) See also: OKC police officer charged with second-degree murder after DA finds deadly shooting unjustified (NewsOK.com) Police officer adopts homeless mother’s opioid-addicted newborn (Fox61.com) Some Police Departments Are Adding Staff for the First Time in Years (Governing.com) Crime-Reporting Failures Persist Across All The Pentagon's Armed Services (NPR) CRIME RATE Baltimore Pugh says her preventive “good government” approach to crime reduction is working  (BaltimoreBrew.com) See also:  Governor Hogan announces plan to fight violent crime in Baltimore  (Baltimore Sun) and also:  Bloomberg donates $5 million to Baltimore for police technology Community and the Crime Decline: The Causal E...

Vegas body cam program gets good review, Texas deadliest state for officers, private companies deal with shoplifters themselves, and more... POLICE CONDUCT Police deaths have declined in Trump’s America, but Texas is still the deadliest place to serve (Newsweek) Are Cops Holding Back? National Arrests Decrease for Most Categories (CrimeInAmerica.net) The Supreme Court Is Weighing If Police Can Get Cell Phone Data Without a Warrant (Fortune) CRIME RATE Citing 'escalating violence,' Carroll County school officials halt field trips to Baltimore (Baltimore Sun) see also Gov. Hogan criticizes Mayor Pugh's crime fighting strategies (WBAL) Iowa's prison chief worries over spike in state's violent crime data (Des Moines Register) Why do state laws put an expiration date on sex crimes? (PBS) See also: LAPD Has 28 Open Hollywood Sexual Misconduct Cases, Police Chief Expects More (MovieWeb) Privatized Justice: ‘Re-Educating’ the American ...

Every police agency has a different way of releasing crime information. In an effort to standardize and simplify plotting points on a crime map, we have been using a unique crime categorization system since we were founded in 2007. Any crime we plot on SpotCrime ends up in 1 of 9 categories: Theft - The act in which property belonging to another is taken without that person's consent. Burglary - The criminal offense of breaking and entering a building illegally for the purpose of committing a crime in that building. Robbery - Using force or intimidation to take property away from another person in the presence of that person. Assault - A physical attempt or threat to use violence with the intent to do harm to another. Arson - The crime of intentionally setting fire to a building or property of another or the burning of one's own property to collect insurance. Shooting - The act of firing a weapon in order to hit, wound, or kill someone or something. Vandalism - T...

DOJ grants funding for community policing, questioning accuracy of police tech, opioid epidemic tops half a trillion dollars, rethinking view of female inmates, and more... POLICE CONDUCT DOJ Targets 29 'Sanctuary Cities' in Latest Salvo (USNews) Judge limits St. Louis police tactics like chemical agents used in protests (St Louis Dispatch) Attorney General Sessions Announces $98 Million To Hire Community Policing Officers (DOJ) CRIME RATE Violent crime: a conversation (TheMarshallProject) This is where hate crimes don’t get reported (ProPublica) The Serial-Killer Detector (The New Yorker) To study violence after fun shows, researched turn to an unlikely source (Wired) White House: True cost of opioid epidemic tops $500 billion (Associated Press) POLICE TRANSPARENCY Why we should treat public data like water (Civicist) Ohio Bill To Outline When Police Body Camera Footage Is Public Record (WOSU) ‘CRIM-TECH’ Does Your Ag...

Best policing strategies up for debate, LAPD officer caught on body cam planting drugs, FBI explanation doesn’t add up, and more… POLICE CONDUCT Science Says These Police Tactics Reduce Crime (Scientific American) See also: What strategies work best in policing? (psmag.com) Tough-talking sheriffs raise their voices in Trump era (WaPo) Body Cam Video Shows LAPD Officer Planting Drugs (NBC Bay Area) Justice Reform Means ‘Thinking Outside Silos,’ Says New John Jay President (TheCrimeReport.org) CRIME RATE The gun numbers: just 3% of American adults own a collective 133m firearms (The Guardian) The Opioid Files: More Than 100 States and Cities Are Suing Drug Companies (Governing) Google study finds phishing attacks more efficient than data breaches (SCMedia) POLICE TRANSPARENCY The FBI’s Explanation For Why It Released Less Crime Data Doesn’t Add Up (FiveThirtyEight) ‘CRIM-TECH’ Fewer Prisoners, Less Crime? The Elusive Promise of Algorithms (TheCrimeR...

Ordinary citizens credited for declining crime rate, America is still debating gun ownership and gun violence debate, the cost of the opioid crisis, AI in policing, and more... POLICE CONDUCT Does de-escalation endanger police officers or save lives? (PoliceOne.com) City's legal bills over 'unrecorded' police phone line surpass $200K (Mlive.com) Mass. Trooper Sues Police Leaders After He Was Told To Alter Arrest Report Of Judge's Daughter (WBUR)  N.J. police chief said black people are 'like ISIS' and he'd like to be 'on the firing squad,' feds say (ChicagoTribune) West Memphis program reduces violent crime (Fox13Memphis) Reforming criminal justice: A report of the academy for justice bridging the gap between scholarship and reform (Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law) CRIME RATE The Unsung Role That Ordinary Citizens Played in the Great Crime Decline (NYTimes) Does Increased Gun Ownership Help Decrease Crime? (NPR) ...

We're going to start digging into FBI UCR state data. First stop, crime rate in California . There are an estimated 18,000 police agencies in the US. FBI reporting is only required if an agency wants to receive federal funding and not all 18,000 agencies report to the FBI. UCR data is reported anywhere from monthly to quarterly to the FBI. The FBI then publishes the national data about every 6 months.  Some agencies have moved over to the FBI NIBRS reporting program. NIBRS was created to create a higher level of classification on crime that's reported to the FBI. More and more agencies are moving to NIBRS reporting, but there is no timeline as to when 100% of agencies will be using NIBRS. 2016 data for NIBRS has not been released yet. If you want more information on the NIBRS program,  head here . Keep in mind, SpotCrime collects RMS/CAD data - the data found on SpotCrime is more up-to-date and robust than FBI data. RMS/CAD helps tell a better picture of what your...