Seattle Police launch online crime map

The Seattle Police Department has a launched new tool for citizens to track crime in the city.

The Police Reports Map has crime icons based on initial police reports taken by officers on the scene. “The crime reporting map is a short-term view of crime: it provides a good sense of what is reported to be going on in a certain neighborhood or the city at large at any time. It is also good for seeing patterns of types of crimes happening (such as an unusual amount of reported bike thefts in your area),” Seattle Police write on the SPD Blotter. Some of the icons will link directly to redacted police reports as they become available. The reports will not have victim information or other sensitive information such as a specific address. Each icon will have a General Offense (GO) number which can be used to request a copy of any unavailable report.