Residents can now log on to a new Web service that tracks
crime
”
as it happens
”
within the city limits.
Chris Bone – Staff Writer
cb***@gi************.com
GILROY – Residents can now log on to a new Web service that tracks crime “as it happens” within the city limits.
Earlier this month the Gilroy Police Department signed a multi-year contract with CrimeReports.com, which maps illegal activities in municipalities minutes after officers respond to calls. The first year is free, and the department will pay $1,200 per year thereafter, according to GPD Sgt. Jim Gillio.
“I look at the entire ‘Public Information Page’ (on the GPD Web site) and CrimeReports.com as steps in the direction of keeping the community and the media more informed,” Gillio wrote in an e-mail.
Gilroy is one of four Santa Clara County cities contracting with the for-profit Web site owned by Public Engines, a company based in Salt Lake City, Utah, founded in 2006, according to its Web site. The three other cities within the county are Los Gatos, Palo Alto and San Jose. San Diego and Fremont are the only other California cities participating, but another 46 municipalities from here to Haverhill, Mass., use CrimeReports.com, according to its Web site.
Every day multi-colored balloons crowd a map of Gilroy, each one identifying the type of crime or incident, the date it occurred and the block it occurred on. The data is preliminary, though, so neither the alleged criminal’s name nor the charge against him/her appears. The arresting officer files that information later – along with the alleged perpetrator’s address, date of birth and the exact time of the reported crime – if there is, in fact, an arrest made. This is the final “blotter” information that The Dispatch transcribes and makes available online for its readers.
CrimeReports.com also reports incidents that do not result in arrests, such as traffic violations and auto burglaries, but GPD safeguards certain reports from the Web site that relate to drug investigations and sex crimes, according to interim GPD Chief Scot Smithee. The Web site also shields victim’s identities by converting exact street addresses to block areas.
This is how it works.
When the GPD’s 911 call center dispatches an officer in response to a call, that officer will arrive at the scene and then call the dispatcher back to corroborate the call. At this point, the dispatcher dumps the preliminary information (the type, date and location of the alleged crime) into GPD’s records bank. CrimeReports.com then uses unique software it developed to electronically extract the dispatcher’s information and plot the incident on the map for residents to view for free.
If the officer returns to the station with the alleged criminal and fills out a booking sheet, the records department polishes the report and fills in any blanks. CrimeReports.com exhibits only the preliminary call information from the time-sensitive software it uses.
“CR.com has spent a lot of money working with RMS software vendors to develop this proprietary software to make the information exchange happen without any staff time on our part,” Gillio wrote in an e-mail.
Gilroy went online Feb. 12 after GPD had been working with CrimeReports.com since October 2007.
