If you need information about reported crime activity in a specific area, Raleigh Police Department’s new online tool can help. CrimeMapper gives the public information about recent activity in Raleigh.
CrimeMapper provides interactive tools for viewing crime activity. Data is extracted regularly from the Raleigh Police Department’s records system. That ensures the information available through your web browser is as current as possible.
"We want to communicate with the public as much as we can and be as transparent as possible,” says Police Chief Rico Boyce. “CrimeMapper is yet another way to keep the public informed.”
CrimeMapper brings existing data together in a user-friendly dashboard, says Dwayne Lipscomb, senior database administrator with the Raleigh Police Department.
With CrimeMapper you can:
- See recent reported crime activity in Raleigh on an interactive map.
- Search for a location such as an address, street, neighborhood, or area of interest.
- Filter by crime type to focus on specific categories of reported incidents.
- Change the time period to view activity during a selected date range.
- Click on map points to view basic public information about a reported incident.
- Use map layers to better understand activity near parks, greenways, or other available boundaries.
- Explore citywide or neighborhood-level trends by zooming in, zooming out, and moving around the map.
View Incidents Dating Back to Three Months
CrimeMapper allows you to visualize reported incidents dating back to three months. For incidents that happened more than three months ago, you can go to the City’s Open Data portal. It has a database going back to 2014.
Information on the tool is based on reports taken by the Raleigh Police Department. Those reports are then broken down by crime and location. You can see an address, but the last two numbers of the house number are left out. That way nothing is too pinpointed to a specific house.
Crime mapping software is widely used by law enforcement agencies across the country. Those include Charlotte, N.C.; Austin, Texas; and Boston, Mass.
Over time, CrimeMapper will help identify trends and hotspots throughout the city. That gives residents greater insight into public safety issues that matter most to their neighborhoods. It will also allow them to track data that is important to them.
Certain sex offenses and sensitive crimes are not displayed on the map to protect victim privacy and rights. Case numbers are also withheld. However, the incident is still included as a record, so the count remains as accurate as possible.
Building Trust Through Transparency
The Raleigh Police Department prides itself on building trust through transparency. “CrimeMapper is a valuable tool that allows residents to stay informed and track crime occurring throughout the city,” Chief Boyce says. “The data has always been available to residents, but this tool now allows it to be accessed more quickly and efficiently.”