Help

Address Issues

The address I enter is not found.

This site uses Google Maps to resolve addresses. If Google is able to determine an address from what you typed then we use that address. If Google does not find an exact match, but finds addresses that might be what you are looking for, we display those as choices for you to select.

If you are unable to search on a particular address try using a nearby street or intersection.

Can I search by street intersections?

Yes, you can search by street intersections.

Enter an address like this:

First and Broad St 38901

Can I search by place names?

Yes, you can search by place names. Examples of place names: a neighborhood, a park, a university. Most any place you see while looking at a map that has a name associated with it is a place name you can use in your search.

Enter an address like this:

Hanes Park 38901, or Hanes Park, My City

Mapping

Do the mapping markers indicate that a crime occurred at this spot?

No, the mapping markers indicate that a crime was reported near the marked spot. This data does not necessarily represent a crime. We place the marker at the location we get from law enfeorcment agency source data. The location data is sometimes a general location, such as a road or intersection.

How are the mapping markers placed?

If a law enforcement agency provides a latitude and longitude for the crime report then we use that coordinate. If this is not provided, and the agency's data contains a street address, we use a geocoding service to plot the location. When we map a report we put the map marker close to the geographic location. Sometimes when several crime reports are close to each other we map them to the same spot to make using the map easier.

Why does the map not always list all the crimes when I click on a marker?

If there are too many crime reports at a certain location we cannot display them all in the popup information window. The window would simply be too large. We sort the results by the crime category so that Violent crime reports appear first, followed by Property, Suspicious Activity, Motor Vehicle, and Other. We do this to allow you to see the crimes of greatest interest to you. We also provide you with a count of how many crimes were not shown in the information window.

What happens when there are crimes from different categories at the same location?

Whenever there are more than two types of crime categories mapped to one location we show a marker for the highest category crime. The highest possible category is Violent crime. For example, if Property and Violent crime are reported at the same location, we will show a marker for Violent crime.

Crime Data

Where did the crime categories come from?

The crime categories are not official categories from law enforcemnt agencies. We created the categories we use to conveniently group crimes. The categories Violent, Property, and Suspicious Activity contain the crimes of greatest concern in your area. Motor Vehicle contains traffic related reports. The Other category contains anything that did not fit into the first four categories.

Your search returned too many results.

If your search returns too many results we don't display all the results. In order to conserve network and server resources we limit results.

I'm suprised to see so many crimes at a particular location.

Please consider what might be around your point of interest. Large shopping centers or shopping districts are likely to have frequent calls for shoplifting. Hospitals often receive patients who have been crime victims. Sometimes the first time the police are notified of a crime is when a patient is treated.

There is no street name for a crime.

In order to help protect a crime victim's privacy we do not display the street or intersection for certain crimes. The distance of the crime from your search origin that we display when performing a search is correct. The mapped location of the crime is close to the location from which this was reported, but keep in mind that the location marker is intentionally not precise.

Linking

How do I link to specific crime reports?

You have several options when linking to our site. You can link to a crime report map or list. You can also link to a specific date range or to reports occurring within a specified number of days in the past.

To link to our site first perform a search. When viewing the search results you will find a link above the map or report list titled 'Link to Report.' Clicking on this will display a panel containing three text boxes containing links.

The first text box link will display the report you are viewing for the date range you entered. The second and third text box links will display the report you are viewing for a sliding date range. The date range will be 7 or 30 days in the past depending on which link you use.

How can I customize a link to specific crime reports?

You can customize or create your own link if you wish. To do this requires some knowledge of REST queries. Rather than build the link from scratch it is recommended that you modify a link copied from a search result page.

Standard Parameters
Key Value
ad Display name of the search location.
lat Center point latitude.
lon Center point longitude.
distance Search distance in miles from the center point. Allows tenths precision.
ccid Crime Category ID (0 for all, otherwise a number from 1 to 5 corresponding to the crime categories).
ctid Crime Type ID (0 for all, otherwise a specific crime id).
search 'map' or 'list'
Dates

Your query string must contain either a date range or a days in the past value.

Date Range

Key Value
date_from The start date
date_to The end date

The date format is YYYYMMDD: the four digit year, two digit month, two digit day. You must zero pad single digits e.g. 20180128.

Days in the past

Key Value
days The number of days in the past
Crime Category ID Values
Crime Category Value
All 0
Violent 1
Property 2
Suspicious Activity 3
Motor Vehicle 4
Other 5