Police in St. Thomas have launched CrimePlot, an online crime-mapping tool that will allow residents to see where crime is happening in the community.
Const. Jeff DeLeeuw said in a statement that the application allows police to communicate information to the public quickly.
“It provides the public with information on a list of occurrence types that are important for the public to see. Assaults, break and enters that are happening within their community within the last 90 days. It plots it out on the map, with a margin of error to protect the individuals that are involved.”
In other words, residents won’t be able to zoom in too closely in order to protect the identity of victims and complainants and a crime may have happened 50 metres or more from the location indicated.
Not included in the crime mapping are sudden deaths, suicides, mental health issues, domestic violence or child abuse.
The application was created by the Midland Police Service and provided to the St. Thomas force for free.
Incidents on the map will be updated at least once a week or more often.
To check out the app visit: www.stps.on.ca and click on the CrimePlot Crime Mapping link on the right.
