Snohomish County, WA – Snohomish County police agencies, in partnership with their two dispatch centers, SNOPAC and SNOCOM, are completing a project to release a new crime mapping system for Snohomish County citizens and businesses.
Terry Peterson, SNOCOM Executive Director, says, “This cooperative effort between our dispatch centers and Snohomish County law enforcement agencies allows us to provide our citizens with a web-based map of crime activity in the community, helping them to be aware and work with their police officers and deputies to improve public safety.”
The crime mapping system is provided by LexisNexis Risk Solutions and can be viewed at http://communitycrimemap.com/. The Everett Police Department recently completed configurations for the system, and Everett Police data is now viewable on the map. LexisNexis is now applying the same configurations to other Snohomish County law enforcement agency’s data and their map information should be displayed within the next couple of weeks. Once completed, citizens will be able to view data from police reports for all agencies in Snohomish County.
Kurt, Mills, SNOPAC Executive Director, added, “The Community Crime Map goes beyond just mapping, it also allows the public to sign up for email alerts about crimes they want to be aware of within a certain distance of their homes, workplaces, and schools.”
The Community Crime Map program builds on the regional police records system shared by all Snohomish County police agencies (New World) by taking data from police reports and putting it on a map. Citizens can select what crime types they want to view and see where those crimes are occurring over time periods they have selected. The system can display “heat maps” showing concentrations of the crimes that citizens are viewing on the map. Each crime incident can be expanded to show additional information about the incident, such as the specific crime that was listed in the police report, the report number, the date and time the incident was reported, and the general location the incident occurred. To protect privacy, the actual incident location is randomly offset on the map display.
Captain Greg Lineberry, Everett Police Department, says, “Community Crime Mapping is a no-cost program we were able to implement in conjunction with our new crime analysis software. It greatly improves on the maps and data we previously provided to our citizens, gives citizens the ability to analyze crime by day of week and time of day, and expands mapping and crime reporting to the entire county. This new connection between Snohomish County law enforcement agencies and their communities is a leap forward in the community-police partnership. It will increase awareness, help reduce crime, and improve public safety.”
The Community Crime Map is just one element of the new crime analysis software being rolled out to all Snohomish County law enforcement agencies. The system includes tools for law enforcement officers to know more about crime activity as they proactively work to reduce crime and the impacts of crime in the communities they protect and serve. There are also many advanced analytical capabilities for agency crime analysts, including the ability to identify hot spots, see crime patterns, and forecast trends. Captain Lineberry explains, “These analytical tools are cutting-edge technology and represent a huge advancement in our capabilities. This will help us make better decisions about how we deploy our resources and focus our efforts based on the crime patterns and trends in our jurisdictions.”
News Releases are located at: www.everettwa.gov/police
###
