New Rochelle has quietly switched its crime map back on after a much publicized incident last March where the Mayor expressed shock the his police department had endorsed a web service that provided residents detailed information about crime in their neighborhoods.
There has been no announcement but Talk of the Sound has been monitoring New Rochelle crime data on crimemapping.com since December when the company announced on its Facebook page that the New Rochelle PD was live on its system. The data is a highly sanitized view of crime data and dramatically understates the level of activity in New Rochelle.
Talk of the Sound has partnered with SpotCrime.com for almost a year and publishes all crime data. In a sample period of one week, the City reported 15 incidents compared to over 250 in SpotCrime.
There was no press release and no link to either the City of New Rochelle or New Rochelle Police Department web site. Readers interested in getting a complete set of data and daily alerts for all incidents near their home or office can get those from spot crime by providing an email address.
A year ago New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson slammed the New Rochelle Police Department crime map initiative an “Anti-Marketing Program” for New Rochelle during a City Council Meeting. Asked if the crime map was “live” on the Internet, Police Commissioner Patrick Carroll told the New Rochelle City Council that it was not live. In fact, it had been switched on for weeks prior to the presentation.
In 2009, Talk of the Sound wrote an Open Letter to City Hall: How About Crime Mapping Software for the New Rochelle Police Department?
In its recently released Annual Report for 2008, the New Rochelle Police Department announced it had completed its transition to a new police management software system which includes a database for tracking calls for service, incidents and crime reports. With such a system in place, the NRPD is now set up to begin sharing near real-time crime data with residents…These services provide law enforcement agencies with an affordable and easy-to-use Web-based service for managing and controlling the sharing of crime data with the public, in near real-time. Community members can then access their neighborhood crime information for free, empowering them to make informed decisions to help improve the safety of their families, friends, property and the community at large.
After the Mayor killed the program, he told Sean Adams of WCBS Radio “Crime alert that enables people to get fuller information that’s tailored to where they live and the area about which they’re concerned will be far more useful than a graphic presentation.”
WCBS RADIO: New Rochelle Yanks Public Access To Crime Tracking Website
New Rochelle Crime Map Returns, Courtesy of Talk of the Sound and SpotCrime
SpotCrime Map Now Live on Talk of the Sound, Sign Up for Alerts, Get iPhone Map
