Congratulations to the DeKalb County Police Department for finally following through on the internet based crime statistics and maps that were promised quite a bit ago when Chief Terrell Bolton spoke at the annual meeting of the Dunwoody North Civic Association.
The site looks good and I was able to go back several months to see the past history of an area and I was even able to see a complete three month history of a small area like a specific neighborhood. There is even a reporting function whereby any future crime reported within 2 miles of my home will be reported to me via e-mail. For the 5 minutes that I looked at it, I am impressed but I still need to play with it a little more to have a final opinion.
Below is crime map of Dunwoody for the first two weeks of January as shown in CRIMETRAC as compared to the same data that was also provided today in the old format of pdf documents. I haven't compared the two sets of crime statistics that should be identical but I believe the mapping and historical data makes a world of difference in analyzing the information.
I have already been promised that the Dunwoody Police Department will have something very comparable.
CRIMETRAC is an innovative mapping system designed to give citizens a first hand look at crime statistics in unincorporated DeKalb County. CRIMETRAC is another element of the Department’s Interactive Community Policing (ICP) Unit’s partnership with the community. Through ICP the Department has engaged citizens in the fight against crime and raised public confidence. The goal of CRIMETRAC is to reduce the fear of crime through better informed citizenry and improve the quality of life in DeKalb County.
CRIMETRAC is:
• Innovative mapping system for citizens
• Provides accurate and timely crime data in the form of reports and maps
• Informs citizens of activities taking place in their own neighborhoods
• Citizen friendly and easy to use
Using CRIMETRAC is as easy as 1, 2, 3!
 | 1. Search |
| - By Address | |
| - By Crime |
| 2. Focus |
| - Number of crimes within radius | |
| - Number of crimes near specific address |
| 3. Obtain Report |
| - Data Range | |
| - Crime Type |
13 comments:
John, though I live in South DeKalb, I read this blog regularly because you post great and insightful information. The post about CRIMETRAC is great as I've asked frequently about leveraging technology in a self service manner to help residents understand crime in their immediate areas. Hopefully this will encourage residents to be more proactive when they notice trends. After all, the more eyes you have analyzing the data, the better.
I will ask my commissioners to share this information with their constituents and provide the link to my HOA. Thanks again and keep up the good work!
Open your eyes folks! The Dunwoody city council has taken the budget from what we were 'sold' on, $2.8M and have doubled it, now somewhere around $5.7M for POLICE. 5 officers per 12 hour shift for 12 square miles!!!! There simply is no rampant crime problem in Dunwoody. Yes, response times are slow because of the average of 3 DK officers in the north sector, and they are not in the Dunwoody area. If we had those 3 focused on Dunwoody things would be just fine, but that is not how they are assigned. Now we will have all these officers, detectives, crime scene tech (this job should be fullfilling!), SGT's. LT's, Chief, Deputy Chief, executive assistant to Chief......come on folks!!!
The council has passed this budget, 42% of overall budget. Wouldnt some of this money be better spent of ROADS, PARKS, PROPERTY TAX relief(?)
Dont forget about take home cars for officers, gym membership, and high salaries! Who came up with this budget? Oh thats, right, Chief Grogan who DOES NOT live in Dunwoody or pay property taxes here.
Once they start spending, it will always go UP UP UP UP.
SPEAK UP FOLKS!
dunwoodypolicewatch.blogspot.com
John,
The Mayor recently said to the Crier he wants $2150 from the DHS hydrant posse. Do you agree with this? If 17 year-olds from a low rent apartment were caught spray painting public property would he request the money then as well?
Is it city policy to request reimbursement for any incident requiring the city to dispatch a crew?
Will the PD issue fines for traffic accidents to cover the costs of the officer's time?
Quite frankly, DunwoodyParent, it should be a no-brainer to require these individuals to pay back the money for the cleanup - no matter what their income level. This was a planned prank, not an accident. It was also a dangerous prank. The consequences should be severe.
They did make a poor decision, just as auto accidents and other incidents are caused by poor decisions. I'll wait and see if the city 'charges' every other poor decision-maker in Dunwoody. It was a stupid act, but no one was injured an no on died (thanks to the people that showed up and controlled the situation).
Dunwoody Parent
There should be consequences. When you cause an auto accident, your insurance rates go up. Have a dead tree that you don't take care of... resulting property damage is your bill to foot.
These boys need to learn... BAD BAD decisions lead to bad consequences. I am sure their parents will hire great attorneys and make the whole thing go away.
This was more than a poor decision, it was a very bad one. Big difference.
why was this worse than an old lady with poor vision and slow reaction time pulling out in traffic, causing an accident with injuries? Who was harmed by the actions of these three (aside from the taxpayers of Dunwoody)?
What they did was wrong. I just want to know if it will be city policy to seek funds every time a city crew is dispatched to fix someone's screw-up.
Puncture a water line putting in a sprinkler system? Fine the homeowner for the repair.
Put a yard sale or festival sign on the street corner? Fine the person hosting the event the time for sign removal and disposal.
Clean up of trash after a parade? The Crier and DHA should pay a fine.
If someone's "screw up" is intentional, then yes, I would hope the City would go ask for reimbursement of funds for clean up due to someone else's intentional harm to property.
I drove down Womack the morning of this incident and was caught in the ice backup. And btw, at 7:35 a.m. there was no sand on the road or anyone routing traffic. Drivers did what we had to do to get through the ice patch. What if one of the many buses that comes down Womack had had an accident and children were injured?
In order of increasing severity:
Accident/Act of God: Unusually high winds blow drought compromised, ordinance protected tree onto a car legally parked on street. Tree owner/insurance pays for damages.
Negligence: home owner does not pay attention to or attend to the pine beetle infested tree in back yard, and on county easement. Tree falls on neighbor's fence, tree owner/insurance pays for repairs.
Arrogant Disregard: most drivers in Dunwoody, all drivers on 285. Accident ensues causing collateral damage and multi-hour traffic jam, ticket's issued, fines assessed, insurance rates increase.
Premeditated Crime: malice and forethought, deliberately planned with prior knowledge of illegal activity and disregard for any damage done to anyone. Investigation, arrest, fine and/or incarceration, and associated civil actions.
Seems like the hydrant incident fits best in the fourth category and should be treated accordingly.
What should be most frightening is that the cost of living in Dunwoody has steadily increased due to Council actions, but outside of Windex and Paper Towel cleaning of a few signs, response to road-related issues do not describe a Fully Operational city.
Everyone should be aware that CrimeMapping.com costs an agency less than $250 per month. There are no setup fees at all. Also, Georgia is the number one source for traffic at CrimeMapping.com as a direct result of Dekalb County's efforts. This includes California and Florida which both have several agency's using the service.
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