The Lincoln Police Department is one of 13 agencies nationwide to provide an online crime map informing the public of incidents happening near them.
Crimemapping.com, a product of the Omega Group, is a San Diego-area solutions provider that works closely with law enforcement, public safety and criminal education agencies.
The company reached out to the LPD because of their active involvement in digital crime analysis, said Trip Albagdadi, director of marketing for the Omega Group.
"We enjoy our relationship with Lincoln, Neb.," Albagdadi said. "We have both benefitted greatly from it."
Crimemapping.com allows any Lincoln citizen to sign up for e-mails alerting them of crimes that occur within a certain perimeter set by the user. An updated, interactive crime map of the whole city of Lincoln can be another useful resource for both the public and the police department itself.
"Overall, the idea is to make people aware of the crimes which happen around them," said officer Katie Flood of the LPD. "(Crimemapping.com) is a nice feature, and a good way to (make) this information available."
The LPD's server allows Omega to access their crime reports three times per day, at the end of each shift, and then upload them computer-to-computer onto the network. This allows for very easy and almost instant correspondence from one agency to another, which, Albagdadi said, has become very important in the days since Sept. 11.
Omega plans to double or perhaps triple their clientele within the coming year, and also release a network connecting the 18 jurisdictions in San Diego County, he said.
"This just makes this information more powerful," he said. "The best way to prevent crime is an informed public."
The Omega Group has been analyzing crime in cities across North America for 16 years. Another of their programs, called CrimeView, was also demonstrated in Lincoln and now serves more than 300 agencies, Albagdadi said.
Albagdadi said the group's achievements are, in part, because of the dedication to the integrity of the provided information, direct communication with each agency and no information skimmed from outside sources.
As for the response generated by crimemapping.com, he said "it has been very positive."
One agency in Miami, Fla., has even been using the Web site for assistance in assigning patrol. Although Albagdadi doesn't recommend this, he said crimemapping.com provides different benefits to smaller agencies.
To sign up for the alerts, one can go to crimemapping.com and click the Receive Crime Alerts! link. From there, the site asks for an e-mail address and perimeter settings, then takes care of the rest.
"I have subscribed and enjoy it," Flood said. "It is good to know if there have been burglaries from an open garage or something so that you can think to prevent it happening to you."
evancotten@dailynebraskan.com
Be the first to comment on this article!