12/8/2013
By Ivan Pereira
Getting all the crime information about your neighborhood down to your block is now a click away.
The city Sunday launched an interactive crime map giving users access to information on reported crimes.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the map, found at maps.nyc.gov/crime, is the next evolution for the NYPD’s transparency with New Yorkers who want to know how safe the streets are. “This administration has relied on data to drive its crime fighting, and this map helps enhance New Yorkers’ and researchers’ understanding of where felony and violent crime persists,” Kelly said in a statement.
The map, which uses Google technology, contains NYPD data on major crimes, such as burglaries, homicides and robberies through October so far. The information will be updated, police said. .
The NYPD has been putting out the information on its site since 2003 via CompStat but only in PDF form.
Users can search by precinct, ZIP code or address and narrow the data down by crime category. The map graphically presents the statistics in variety of ways.
Site users can see the crime data with a “heat map” that marks crime concentration by precinct with colors. The more red a neighborhood is on the map means the higher number of reported crimes.
Zooming in to a specific street will provide specific details of reported crimes. The map was part of a new city mandate requiring all government data be made available on the Internet.
