SpotCrime - The Public's Crime Map

Encrypted radios, mental health calls for service, mental health of criminal justice professionals, youth gun deaths and gun violence on the rise, policing software blamed for errors, tighter drug laws could cause unsustainable workload, police database to fight gun crimes, debtors prison, and more... POLICE CONDUCT Hearing sirens? Finding out why could get harder as Central Indiana police encrypt radios  (Indy Star) The Intersection of Health and Justice: An Evaluation of Mental Health First Aid Training for Justice-involved Professionals  (SAGE Journals) Addictions, mental health, housing issues drive up police calls for service  (CKOM)  CRIME RATE Gun deaths among U.S. children and teens rose 50% in two years  (Pew Research Center) see also:  Data shows alarming rise in youth gun violence in Harris County  (CW39 Houston) Local newsrooms want to stop sensationalizing crime, but it’s hard  (Poynter) Louisville mayor vows to fight gun violence  (ABC News) CRIM-TECH Policing software bl

Licensing police in NJ, police review boards, violence dip, hackers getting more sophisticated, data sharing agreements, surveillance, body cam transparency, inmate overdoses, and more... POLICE CONDUCT Governor Murphy Signs Police Licensing Program Bill Into Law  (NJ.gov) Retired judges who hear cases may not sit on police boards, ethics panel says  (The Daily Record) Tampa's police review board wants voters to decide if it should have subpoena power  (Creative Loafing) 62 New Camden County Police Officers Spend First Day Building Relationships With Neighbors  (CBS Philly) Changing the Police: Charlie Walker's Plan  (NPR) Pennsylvania Poaching Police Warrantlessly Installed Camera on Private Land To Surveil Hunting Club  (reason) CRIME RATE Hackers Use More Sophisticated Scams to Drive Costly Data Breaches, Analysis Finds  (NextGov) Plenty students seem to be missing class at Orleans schools but no one is sure how many  (WWLTV) Murders, Gun Assaults Dipped in First Six Months

Gun violence and mass shootings, looking at violence prevention programs, police mental health, extremists and racism in police ranks, use of force, police conduct, license plate readers, drones, police data lacks in domestic violence and hate crimes, treating substance abuse, and more... POLICE CONDUCT In Chesterfield, assaults on police and use-of-force incidents increased in 2020  (Chesterfield Observer) Dallas Activists, Police Officers Work Together to Offer Opportunity to Young Black Men  (NBC DFW) 'That's a massive mistake.' Police chief sounds off on lack of regular psych help for officers  (WXYZ) Pushing for police reform: Local police chiefs weigh in on recruiting challenges  (WXYZ) Transphobia, hostility about protesters in private cop group  (AP) see also:  From Insult to Estrangement and Injury: The Violence of Racist Police Jokes  (Academia.edu) 'A nightmare scenario': Extremists in police ranks spark growing concern after Capitol riot  (USA Today) Mar

Assessing and reassessing police violence and use of force, gun violence over Memorial Day, police surveillance oversight, looking at the coronavirus crime spike and drop, and more... POLICE CONDUCT A thread of police chiefs strongly condemning the murder of George Floyd  (Twitter) Police killed 1,099 people in 2019 - a map  (MappingPoliceViolence.org) Louisiana cop fired for saying 'unfortunate' more black people didn't die of coronavirus  (NBC News) The Strange Saga of the Rogue Kentucky Constables Who Arrested an FBI Agent  (Daily Beast) Audit: Austin police need more time, better data in community policing  (Austin-American Statesman) CRIME RATE Cincinnati police ramp up efforts to curb gun violence after shooting death of 8-year-old  (WCPO) see also:  Police roll out ShotSpotter technology in three more Cincinnati neighborhoods  (WCPO) Addressing Terrorism and Crime in Your City: Why the Public and Private Sectors Need to Work Together  (Security Magazine) Memorial Day

Police-community relationships, mental health unit, end of access to open crime data across the country, assessing the crime rate with data, greater transparency in MD, and more... POLICE CONDUCT Policing is a relationship driven business  (Police Foundation) What is harm focused policing?  (Police Foundation) Officers are proud of their work but feel burnout, frustration, Austin Police survey shows  (KXAN) Police officer buys groceries for couple who allegedly tried to shoplift food for children  (Fox5NY) Polk Sheriff calls out Amazon for not helping track down driver accused of delivery theft  (WESH) El Paso County Sheriff's Office expanding mental health unit  (KOAA) CRIME RATE Erie police see mixed results in effort to curb gun crime  (GoErie.com) Oakland Mayor, Council, CAO, Police Chief Introduce Anti-Violence Czar, Talk Crime Data  (Oakland News Now) Charlotte Analyzes Crime Data, Provides Recommendations to Reduce Violent Crime  (Spectrum News) Charles

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. This is one of th