How SpotCrime Can Save Taxpayers $180 Million
Recently the Benton County Sheriff (Arkansas) announced a new public crime map . Local news OzarksFirst.com reported that the map was paid for by a $15,000 grant. Not a large sum, and often crime mapping vendors have similar contact costs charging $150 a month for public crime mapping services. Using a simple discounted cash flow valuation of a police agency contract at $1,800 a year at a 10% discount rate, you'll get a total valuation of the vendor mapping contract at $18,000 (divide 10% into $1,800). Very similar to the amount paid by Benton. We have seen some agencies pay larger sums for public crime mapping. Most notably, Seattle Police Department spent approximately $350,000 for their public mapping system. So how do we get to $180 million in savings? Since we are using back of the envelope numbers, we are going to be very conservative in our estimated costs. We'll use an approximate cost of $10,000 per police agency for public crime mapping. Why use $10k? I