By sharing information on crime with its residents online, the Chicago Police Department hopes to further engage people in what s happening in their neighborhoods. It is an outgrowth of a computer system launched in 1993 that was used only by police. Jonathan Lewin, a department spokesman. Crimes are not immediately charted but are delayed by one week so that investigators can properly classify cases. The interactive system enables residents to search by a specific address, intersecting streets or a police beat.
Users can search for all crimes or specific types of crime.
The data will show the time, date and block number of the crime but will not give a specific address. Users can also choose a search radius of up to one mile and can view reported crimes within a 14-day time frame, Lewin said. The department received about 250,000 hits in the five days following the launch. Although Sacramento, Calif., and San Diego have similar systems, Lewin said he believed Chicago is the largest metropolitan city to share such information with its residents via the Web. He said future enhancements would include providing citizens with tools to analyze criminal activities during a given time or area.