November 28, 2012

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New website lets Mich. residents keep up on crime

Users can see the date, time, location and description of cases with just the click of a mouse

Tiffany Esshaki
Birmingham-Bloomfield Eagle

BIRMINGHAM — With the help of a few new tech-savvy tools, residents in Birmingham can help fight crime in their own backyard.

As of Nov. 21, the Birmingham Police Department is now enlisting the help of a website called Crimedar, where residents can track crime in the city by viewing reported incidents on a map. Users can also see the date, time, location and description of cases with just the click of a mouse.

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(Crimedar.com Image)

"We're taking this proactive approach to help residents visually see potential crime patterns taking place in the city," said Birmingham Police Chief Don Studt in a prepared statement. "Our goal is to create a partnership between the community and our department with this interactive tool."

By logging onto www.crimedar.com/birminghammichigan, viewers can see a Google map with icons depicting various types of crimes, from home invasions to drunken driving arrests. According to Cmdr. Terry Kiernan of the BPD, domestic incidents and juvenile crimes will still be off-limits from public view as they've been in the past.

When users click on the map's icons, they'll be able to read a brief summary of the incident. Crime icons will remain on the map for two weeks, at which time they're saved to the site's archive. Kiernan says the idea is to get residents to visit the site frequently and notice patterns of crime in their own neighborhood.

"If you start seeing a bunch of larcenies from autos in your neighborhood, it's an indication that maybe you should raise your awareness," he said. "Locking your vehicle, not parking in the street-stuff you should be doing anyways, but maybe your awareness needs to be brought up to a higher level."

Though the site is still a work in progress, Kiernan says he expects Crimedar to be updated with the weekly reports each Wednesday afternoon.

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