New Online Tools Help Citizens Fight Crime

Most likely by now you’ve seen the groundbreaking series “To Catch a Predator” on Dateline NBC with Chris Hanson. In each episode slimy sexual predators are lured into a trap by a host of undercover crime fighters and eventually embarrassed and arrested for being an idiot. It’s captivating television and we’re all relieved in the end that these sicko’s are locked up, but how does Joe citizen help fight crime.

Recently, the City of Sacramento has been debating the need for a tax increase to provide support for fighting gang violence. While we all can agree that gang violence is a plague on our community which needs to be wiped out, we may disagree on how to accomplish it. Some might question whether a new tax is the solution. Meanwhile, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s department may have some new tools which can assist all citizens in combating crime.

The new services are called Community Crime Mapping and CrimeView CyberWatch.

The first,  Community Crime Mapping, works like this. As crimes are reported they are logged and entered into the Sheriff’s crime tracking database which can provide crime maps based on the type of crime, where it occurred and the date reported. This provides what they call the Community Crime Mapping. The types of crime selected appear on a map within a certain proximity to a location, your home for instance, and different icons show where crimes have been reported. While this is a great service, not many people will be diligent enough to check these maps on a regular basis. It’s a great tool for crime prevention specialists to observe trends and for journalists looking for crime data, but Joe citizen may only check these a couple times per year if at all.

The second tool, called CrimeView CyberWatch allows any citizen to enter their email address, physical address or intersection and the types of crime to watch. The service then alerts you of crimes reported within a radius of that location. For example, a 1 mile radius may cover your entire neighborhood. When the email alert is received it contains the date, time and crime reported as well as the address and location type. Just recently this service alerted me to a burglary in my neighborhood, which I may actually have some additional information about. It’s a great service for keeping neighbors aware of what’s happening on your street or down the block. You can sign up here.

There are some limitations which would help improve this service tremendously. It appears like the emails are sent approximately 1 week after the crime is reported. This may be too long of a time period for any citizens to recall what they may have seen or heard during the incident. A more timely notification may lead to more accurate tips to assist in solving some of these crimes.

In addition, in the email there are no instructions or an easy link for citizens to provide more information if they saw or heard something which may help lead to an arrest. An easy link to a contact form and some type of tracking number would help Joe citizen provide details the Sheriff’s may not already have.

Right now, the service only provides just the facts. In the future it would be nice to see a description of the crime reported to enable residents to be more aware of events occurring in their neighborhood. Overall, it’s a great set of tools which everyone should use which should help raise awareness and provide a way for citizens to be the eyes and ears of the Sheriff’s Department.