SpotCrime - The Public's Crime Map

Police staffing shortages, civilian response teams, USPS postal police, DOJ hotlines to report hate crimes, America's gun problem, gun violence, ICE data collection on Americans, NYPD secret database, facial recognition in schools, law enforcement polices restrict transparency and accountability, a holistic criminal justice system, and more... POLICE CONDUCT Staffing shortages are causing case backlogs at Phoenix-area police departments  (AZFamily.com) With Complaints Rising, Transit Agencies Search for Alternatives to Police  (Route Fifty) see also:  SLCPD to form new civilian response team to handle massive call volume  (Fox13) After court battle, Marilyn Mosby releases list of 305 Baltimore police officers with credibility issues  (The Baltimore Sun) Voters, investors and crime experts have eyes on bid to recall San Francisco DA  (Courthouse News Service) After years of gang list controversy, the NYPD has a new secret database. It's focused on guns. ...

Chicago police pause new foot pursuit policy, police in schools, staffing woes in Baltimore PD, effects of one day foot patrols on hot spots, campus sexual assault, Texas will 'eliminate all rapists', MN county stops prosecuting low level traffic stops, body cam law to standardize operations across the state, recidivism rates over the past 10 years, and more... POLICE CONDUCT Chicago police will delay making temporary foot pursuit policy permanent, saying more time is needed for data analysis  (Chicago Tribune)  When Schools Call Police On Kids  (WFAE) see also:  Gun violence in city prods Erie School District to propose delay in reducing police force  (GoErie.com) State Police takes no action against trooper who lied about Ronald Greene body cam footage  (WBRZ) Police staffing woes complicate reform effort in Baltimore  (Associated Press) South Dallas Property Owner Sues City Over Habitual Criminal Property Designation  (Dallas Observer) Dallas p...

Addressing gun violence, domestic violence rates, qualified immunity abolished in NM, police surveillance, Baltimore stops prosecuting low level crimes, COVID crime rate, mitigating youth crime, countering violent extremism, AI and algorithms in the justice system, early release programs in Mississippi, Walmart crime data transparency, and more... POLICE CONDUCT New Mexico Abolishes Qualified Immunity  (Reason.com) see also:  NYPD officers are no longer protected from civil lawsuits after city council passes police reform legislation  (CNN) Springfield Police Chief: Department 'trying to prioritize gun violence in community'  (The State Journal Register) see also:  Roanoke police taking community-focused approach to gun violence, chief tells city council  (Roanoke.com)  San Antonio inviting community to participate in police services review process  (KENS5) Canton Police Department receives approval for embedded social worker program  (Clicko...

We would like to share with you our newest project - a podcast we are calling ‘The Land of the Unsolved’. Episode one has launched and you can listen for free here: The show will explore unsolved murders and mysterious deaths in my hometown, Baltimore, and beyond. We’ve partnered with local Baltimore investigative journalists Stephen Janis and Taya Graham who will examine evidence, speak to detectives, and interview witnesses to help fill in the blanks on cases that remain stubbornly open or in legal limbo. In the first series, Stephen and Taya explore the death of Baltimore Police homicide detective Sean Suiter. Suiter was found shot in the head in a West baltimore alley in November of 2017. At first police raised the possibility of a lone gunman, but that trail has gone cold and the case remains unsolved. As the founder of SpotCrime, I believe firmly in the public's right to know. My decision to help produce the show is another example of SpotCrime’s commitment to t...

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 ...

Baltimore consent decree agreement reached, de-escalation policy, FBI FOIA requests, body cams, and more... POLICE CONDUCT Major U.S. Police Groups Agree on De-Escalation Policy (TheCrimeReport) Baltimore, Justice Department reach consent decree agreement on police reform (Baltimore Sun) Suspected Orlando Cop Killer Markeith Loyd in Custody (NBC News) Police across the country looked at Standing Rock as a sort of law enforcement laboratory (MuckRock) Ohio Traffic Camera Law at Center of Heated Debate (GovTech) CRIME RATE 26% of Gun Homicides in Areas With 1.5% of U.S. Population (TheCrimeReport) 10 killed, 29 wounded in Chicago MLK Day weekend shootings (ChicagoSunTimes) Wife of Orlando Gunman Is Charged Under Antiterrorism Laws (NYTimes) New FBI data sheds light on one of San Antonio's most violent years on record (MySanAntonio.com) Why Do We Criminalize Young Victims of Sex Trafficking? (TheCrimeReport) Fighting Sex Trafficking Is ...

The  murder rate is on the rise , gun deaths in America are at an all time high , and cities like Chicago and Baltimore  are facing huge criticisms on policing tactics. Is the shooting epidemic across America's cities a  policing issue , policy issue, or cultural issue? This question is up for debate. What we do know is that it is imperative that the public know about and have access to this kind of crime data and information.  There is no federal repository for nationwide shooting data , so what does shooting data look like on a map? Check out SpotCrime. We’re the only major crime map to break out shooting as it’s own icon. Shootings in Chicago Chicago shootings Aug 12 - Sept 12, 2016 Rightfully so, Chicago is constantly under fire (no pun intended) for the large amount of shootings the city experiences daily . Chicago saw 65 shootings Labor Day weekend alone . The chief recently attributed it to a cultural issue rather than a policing is...

Updates have been made to the SpotCrime ‘Live’ Crime Data Transparency Ranking list. Only 1 city was upgraded to a 2 ranking - Baltimore. They added a calls for service and arrest data feeds after the Freddie Grey protests. 5 cities were downgraded. The recurring reason for the decrease in transparency across the country? Police system ‘upgrades’. The new year has brought dozens of RMS/CAD/database upgrades to police departments nationwide. It’s great to see agencies embracing new technology, however, these new upgrades are knocking public access to crime information offline. Boston, MA - 2 to a 0  BPD is no longer updating the open data feed due to RMS upgrade . No timeline has been given as to when the feed will be available again. Phoenix, AZ - 2 to a 1   The Phoenix  RMS upgrade knocked a weekly public file offline and dramatically decreased the the timeliness and quality of the data. St. Louis County, MO - 2 to a 0   St....

SpotCrime  continues to be the only major crime mapping company to break out shootings into it’s own icon. Often it is very difficult to identify that a shooting has happened from the crime data we receive. A lot of the time, we are left to using the description associated with an incident (given there is a description provided) to determine if a shooting occurred.  Most crime mapping sites will map a shooting with some sort of assault icon. This causes shootings to get lost - filed under the same icon as fist fights, knife attacks, kidnappings, and verbal assaults. We believe this does not give a full picture of crime in the area. We rely on open crime incident data sets, RMS data, CAD data, UCR data and/or a mix of the bunch. It just depends on what agencies make available. Not all agencies make the same data available. The inconsistency in datasets from agency to agency and jurisdiction to jurisdiction has also made this task incredibly difficult. Thi...

Only the fastest, strongest, biggest, and most aggressive players rise to the top to make millions as a professional in the National Football League. A recent study addressed a question that comes to mind when there is yet another NFL player arrest in the news - is the NFL’s ‘crime epidemic’ real? The study looked at arrest data of the general population of males between 20-39 and NFL players over 14 years. Here are the three conclusions that were drawn: Between 2000-2013, the U.S. general population of males aged 20-39 had a significantly higher total arrest rate than NFL players. In fact, these differences were about one and a half to two times higher. For both public order violations and property crimes, once again, the U.S. general population had higher arrest rates. The findings regarding violence were mixed. In six of the 14 yearly comparisons, the NFL data showed a significantly higher violent arrest rate than the U.S. general population. We took a look at...