Crime-tracking web sites allow Oakland residents to support police efforts

June 9, 11:03 PMOakland Hills ExaminerMichael Libbey

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With Oakland’s continuing shortage of police officers, residents must rely more and more on their own eyes and ears to support the Police Department’s efforts to enforce the law.

Several web sites have arrived on the scene to help citizens track crime as a way of alerting communities and encouraging tips for the police. The Oakland and Berkeley police departments are now among 800 across the country who provide crime reports to the public, either directly or through crime-tracking web sites.

Oakland Police Department has its own rudimentary web site, but four other sites are much better at providing crime-tracking information, using data fed to them by OPD. Among them, there’s a clear winner, based on these criteria: 1) clarity of presenting information; 2) timeliness of information; 3) ease of tailoring information to your specific interest or location; 4) clarity of maps – the most clear are based on google and have google’s options of Map, Satellite, Hybrid or Terrain view.

In order of usefulness, these sites are:

CrimeReports.com – the clear first choice

• Freshest information of any site; data posted as soon as 10-12 hours after a crime report;

• Clear map based on google; opens in Map view;

• Crimes are shown in two ways: 1) icons on the map, which display crime-report detail when clicked; 2) a list of crime reports in the left panel, including the street address by block; when the map is zoomed in or out, the left-panel information refreshes to reflect the map’s view;

• Toolbar allows filtering of data in a number of ways -- date, crime types, distance from specified location, and choice of area such as ZIP code, police beat or city council district;

• Can request email crime alerts, with various criteria and scheduling options;

• No advertising on the site.

SpotCrime.com – second choice

• Information is typically three-four days old;

• Map is based on google; opens in Map view;

• Crimes are shown in two ways: 1) icons on the map; detail with street pops up, saving a click; 2) a list of crime reports appears below the map, but it’s citywide and does not refresh when the map is zoomed or panned;

• Toolbar limited to date filtering;

• Can request email crime alerts, but must register and create an account;

• Considerable advertising clutter.

CrimeMapping.com – third choice

• Information is typically at least two days old;

• Map is based on google but opens in Terrain view, less preferable than Map view;

• Shows crimes as icons on the map; clicking on an icon pops up a crime description that often includes no address; must zoom in on map to determine precise location; no detailed list;

• Uses unfamiliar terms such as “buffer address” and “enable clusters” that require a visit to the “Help” section;

• Can request crime alerts, but email is sent only if a crime occurs in your designated area; not sent on a scheduled basis;

• No advertising.

Oakland.crimespotting.org – fourth choice

• Information is typically at least two days old;

• Design lacks the sophistication of the above sites; can spotlight crime types, but must pan to a location; no option to input a location;

• Maps are readable, but less clear than google maps;

• Must choose between separate pages to see a map with icons or a list of crime reports; the icons provide no address detail, and the list provides a useless map snippet. Must be clicked for detail, adding one click too many;

• Can request email alerts, but frequency must be once a day.

• No advertising.

Oakland CrimeWatch – a distant last choice

• Site provided by the City of Oakland; data provided by Oakland Police Department;

• Clunky design; limited to choosing a single location with radius up to one mile; can select a feature (a school) or a boundary (police beat); To check different locations, must re-start from the beginning;

• Rudimentary map with few street identifications; difficult to identify locations;

• Often produces “error” messages.

In short, if you want to track crime reports in your neighborhood via one site, go with CrimeReports.com. If you want maximum variety, try the top three choices.

Web site links:

CrimeReports.com

SpotCrime.com

CrimeMapping.com

Oakland.CrimeSpotting.org

Oakland CrimeWatch