San Jose police department partnering with online map mashup for community crime prevention

| 09.19.2007 | 07:53:168744 |

September 19 '07: Government Technology News reported a partnership in San Jose, California which is partnering the local police department with an Internet map mashup startup to provide maps for community residents so they know if crimes have occurred in their area.

The Internet company, Crimereports.com "is free to members of the public, and allows citizens to receive alerts automatically via email if a crime occurs near their home," GovTech reported. "It also allows citizens to view reported crime activity on an easy to use map for any location within San Jose boundaries."

The partnership also allows the San Jose police department to help develop the service while it is still in its beta stages of development, the article reported, through a program called "Foundation Partners" which will expand the website's services to allow more connectivity, information availability, and capabilities.

A sampling of the service found that each specific crime was given a location on a map, the type of crime committed, the distance from location given, and the ability to send that information to someone via email.