Mpls. unveils interactive online crime map
Minneapolis police officials Thursday unveiled a free, online crime mapping tool available on the city's website.
People can get daily updates about serious crimes such as assaults, robberies, homicides and burglaries reported throughout the city, said Minneapolis Police Commander Scott Gerlicher.
Other local police departments also contribute data to the site, so people can see what's happening in nearby cities, he added.
"That's important, because criminals don't observe borders," he said. "We use this tool, just as the public will, to help us analyze what's going on, not just what's going on in Minneapolis but the suburbs as well."
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The mapping tool was developed by Colorado-based Bair Analytics.
Bair is not charging the city of Minneapolis for the service, said company vice president Susan Smith.
Bair's founder is a former law enforcement officer and wanted to make it easy for law enforcement agencies to disseminate public information, she added.
The company does charge police departments for other data-related services, she said, but Minneapolis is under no obligation to hire them.
About 26 Minnesota law enforcement agencies currently contribute data to the mapping service and another 15 are signing on within the next couple weeks, Smith said.
Missing from the list of agencies already onboard are some departments that operate in Minneapolis, such as the University of Minnesota Police Department, Metro Transit Police and the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office.