I just learned of a new website, Crime Mapping that allows law enforcement agencies to inform the public about crime in their area. The system utilizes the records of that agency and produces a searchable map with all of the crime activity pinpointed by location and nature of crime. It costs the agency about $3000 a year to provide this service and is already used by agencies in California, Florida and several other states. Unfortunately, Colorado isn’t one of them.

I saw where Boulder has some type of crime map available, but it wasn’t working when I visited the site. I think that this would be a very valuable public service and should be utilized more widely and would likely help to reduce crime. For example, if I knew that I lived in an area that reported a lot of property crime, I would take steps to protect my property better as well as pay more attention to the comings and goings of people in the area.

Knowledge is power and we could use that knowledge to make change to our community. Unfortunately, Law Enforcement is far more reactive than proactive. I believe that we should make our political leaders aware of this type of service and convince them of the benefits. I know I would like to know what is going on around me. Law Enforcement already has the data in their records systems, make it available in a useful manner for the general public.

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