SpotCrime - The Public's Crime Map

Crime is down since 2004, but violent crime is up in a few larger cities in the US according to (Click image to enlarge) the  2015 FBI reports released this month. We came across this chart in The Economist comparing the crime rate crime rate per 1000 people in 2004-2005 to 2014-2015 in a few of the most populated cities across the US. Of the cities listed, only one largely populated city has a lower crime rate than the national crime rate - Honolulu had a crime rate of 2.4 while the National crime rate came in at 3.5. We like to claim we can determine the quality of a police department depending on how the department makes crime data available. Since we only have anecdotal evidence to speak on this it’s simply an assumption. However, when we looked at the graph, we immediately noticed a correlation between transparency with crime data and the crime rates.  The White House Police Data Initiative and the open data movement have really caught on the past couple of...

Clowns are taking up a lot of police resources this past month and it is not funny. What seemed like legitimate concerns of reports of clowns trying to lure children into the woods in Greenville County, SC has turned into a slew of false police reports of clown sightings and vague threats by people posing as clowns along the southeast and up the east coast. These reports not being taken lightly. Since police departments are unable to discern whether a report is true or false, police still have to take all threats seriously and respond and investigate accordingly. False reports and vague or fake threats that are ‘jokes’ take valuable time and resources away from police and residents which translates into money away from taxpayers. Mashable created a map of the original clown sightings that occurred in Greenville County and we’ve updated a map of our own. We tried to map all incidents, but some came without an address (typically ones where a juvenile was involved). V...

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...

Spam filters have gotten pretty sophisticated, but some scam or phishing emails still get through. In most cases, scam emails are easy to spot. In other cases, it's a bit harder. A lot of scam or phishing emails follow the same criteria. Someone claims to need your help (read: money) or someone has money for you. Some emails simply ask you to download a file or link without much context. Check out a few common ones below. The "FREE MONEY" email scam This is when someone claims you've won money, but they need all of your personal information or you need to give them money first. From: MR. JEH CHARLES JOHNSON <wulnik@interia.pl> Date: Sun, Aug 14, 2016 at 10:04 PM Subject: FROM:..USA DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY!!!. To: FROM .. HOMELAND SECURITY DEPARTMENT!!! MG Timothy J. Lowenberg,Adjutant General and Director State Military Department Washington Military Dept., Bldg1 Camp Murry ,Wash 98430-5000 USA. Text Jeh SMS Only (202) 524-2040 I am Mr....

Police agencies around the country are giving hefty fines to retail giant Walmart for excessive calls for service to the retail locations. Calls range for anything from, s hoplifting, k idnappings, f ights, m eth labs, and of course Black Friday maddness . There are over 4,000 Walmart stores in the US alone with thousands of visitors a day. Some Walmarts are even open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This presents a huge window of opportunity for crime to happen at a much higher rate than your local supermarket. Add in the cost cutting efforts Walmart is known for in order to keep prices low and you have even more reasons crime is so easy at Walmart . Hiring less employees means sub par loss prevention efforts. And, employees with low wages may not feel like they get paid enough to put themselves in a position to stop a shoplifter. The fines could cause Walmart to institute better LP efforts by hiring more employees, install better cameras and anti-theft devices on produc...

Need help making crime data openly available in your town? Let us know .

A lot of people are wondering who is the lesser of two evils - Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton? They both seem to fall into the same bucket when it comes to transparency . Their views on crime and safety differ. Read about Trump’s stance on crime and safety here . Read about Hillary’s stance on crime and safety here . Political opinions aside, we decided to look at the crime around events candidates have held since they received their party's nomination. We couldn't draw too many conclusions. Not every police agency reports data, and those that do do not follow any specific reporting standards. However, we did notice: Trump has held more rallies (30) than Clinton (13). Trump tends to visit cities/areas with a smaller population density than Clinton. This gives him a higher chance of being in a city that is not open with crime data (smaller cities do not have the resources of the larger cities). Obviously the Secret Service would not allow a rally to t...