NEW ROCHELLE, NY (March 23, 2023) — It had taken a while but the New Rochelle Police Department today announced it has added a link on their webpage to SpotCrime, a crime mapping website — about 14 years since this reporter first proposed such a partnership.
Back then, NRPD senior command was immediately supportive of offering residents a interactive crime map when Robert Cox first proposed Crime Mapping in 2009. Former Police Commissioner Patrick J. Carroll told City Council the first priority of any government is to protect its citizens. He said providing residents easy access to near real-time crime data makes for a more aware, more vigilant community which will be quicker to take simple precautions and report suspicious behavior. The net result will be more cooperation between residents and police, safer communities, and increased real estate values.
Mayor Noam Bramson has been adamantly opposed ever since Carroll first presented to City Council at a Committee of the Whole Meeting on March 8, 2011. Bramson reacted negatively to Carroll’s presentation, calling it an “anti-marketing campaign for New Rochelle”. Bramson was more concerned with attracting developers than protecting residents (for more on that 2011 COW meeting see below),
The NRPD website explains the new partnership:
The New Rochelle Police Department is working with SpotCrime to provide an interactive crime map for community members to explore. This map is populated with crime and police incident data from NRPD reports. Specific locations have been anonymized to protect the identities of victims and witnesses. The map is updated approximately every day. Users are encouraged to utilize the search tools and may register for alerts. This crime map and its accompanying tools reinforce the City of New Rochelle Police Department’s commitment to public safety and transparency.
The SpotCrime link can be found by going to the NRPD Home Page, then clicking on ”Crime Stats” then clicking on “SpotCrime” located in the purple sidebar section, then clicking on “map”:
“SpotCrime is thrilled to be able to provide a crime map to New Rochelle citizens,” said SpotCrime CEO. “Our goal is to increase transparency nationwide and as a result, improve public safety.”
“We are very thankful for the support of the New Rochelle Police Department and their commitment to sharing crime data. Public trust is materially improved through data transparency. Providing no cost crime data access to the public through desktop, mobile and apps is our mission.”
The idea of offering crime mapping was first proposed to now-retired Captain Kevin Kealy by Robert Cox in an email on June 26, 2009.
With NRPD supportive, Talk of the Sound published an Op-Ed advocating for a crime map based on NRPD data.
Open Letter to City Hall: How About Crime Mapping Software for the New Rochelle Police Department? (June 26, 2009)
It took just under two years for NRPD to put their crime data online and present it to the New Rochelle City Council.
During the meeting, Bramson said “this isn’t live, is it?” Carroll said it was not but the presentation was via a web browser on a public site — of course it was live.
The Mayor called it an “anti-marketing campaign” for New Rochelle. Council Member Marianne Sussman expressed her concern on the impact on real estate. Council Member Barry Fertel proposed a criminal conviction map so only crimes resulting in a conviction would be mapped. Fertel, an attorney, was presumably aware that few crimes are reported and of those that are reported few of those result in a conviction and when they do it can be months or years after the crime.
https://newrochelle.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=69
Mitchell Tarnapol, a Bramson advocate, went on WVOX soon after to claim that all the crime data was already public for anyone who wanted it, that the Journal News reports on these incidents. Back then, only a tiny fraction of crimes were reported by the Journal News and in recent years that figure had dropped closer to zero in an average month.
The story was picked up by major media outlets including WCBS.
WCBS RADIO: New Rochelle Yanks Public Access To Crime Tracking Website (3/10/2011)
The mayor and council believe raw crime statistics alone could give people the wrong impression of their city.
Instead, the city will soon roll out a crime alert notification system using e-mail.
The mayor says it will be a “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.”
No such crime alert notification system using e-mail was ever rolled out.
Talk of the Sound has been recommending Crime Mapping software since June 2009. We provided NRPD an example of such a map might be used to track sex offenders: Interactive Map of Level 3 Sex Offenders in New Rochelle. We did the research and recommended two crime map solutions including crimemapping.com which NRPD briefly adopted in 2011.
NRPD began providing crime data to Talk of the Sound two weeks after Mayor Bramson shot it down; we started sharing with SpotCrime in March 2011, days after the Mayor pushed City Manager Charles B. Strome to shut down crime mapping.
SpotCrime has been publishing NRPD crime data ever since but now as a direct partner with the New Rochelle Police Department.
NRPD briefly set up another crime map in 2012 but that was abandoned.
New Rochelle Quietly Resumes Crime Mapping Program (2/29/2012)
ChicagoCrime.org
The inspiration for Crime Mapping came from the work of Adrian Holovaty who Robert Cox met at a technology conference in 2009. He developed the first Google Map + Crime Data “mashup” in Chicago. The site was closed down in 2008 and Holovaty has gone on to other projects. Holovaty provides a nice summary of those early days of “mashing” data with Google Maps in his farewell article on his original project: In memory of chicagocrime.org.
DISCLAIMER ON NRPD SITE: The map does not display incidents in real-time. The data used to populate the map is based on NRPD reports and it may take several days before information is updated, based on the nature of the incident and progress of the investigation. Further, the data made available here may be modified by SpotCrime for use from its original source and no claim is made as to the completeness, accuracy or content of any data contained in this application; further no representation of any kind is being made, including, but not limited to, warranty of the accuracy or fitness for a particular use; nor are any such warranties to be implied or inferred with respect to the information or data furnished herein. The data is subject to change as modifications and updates are complete. It is understood that the information contained in the web feed is being used at one’s own risk. Though the source for the “crime” reports are police incident reports, any alleged perpetrators have not necessarily been tried or found guilty of any crime. Lastly, though SpotCrime offers a “Submit a Crime Tip” feature, this should only be utilized for non-emergencies. If there is an emergency, call 911.
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