Shreveport Police Dept.

Date: Mar 02, 2009

Phone: (318) 525-5066 Fax: (318) 673-6933

Contact: Cpl Bill Goodin, Public Information Officer

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Shreveport Police unveil new crime mapping system

The Shreveport Police Department has a new on-line crime mapping system that will allow the public to view information regarding crime in Shreveport in a whole new way, and it’s all just a mouse click away.

The implementation of GIS Crime mapping on a departmental scale in 2004 has played a significant role in the 21 percent reduction of Part I Crimes over the past five years. The deployment of this state of the art technology has greatly enhanced the Shreveport Police Department’s ability to recognize and proactively target emerging crime patterns in our community.

Now these crime maps are available to the public on-line at the Shreveport Police Department’s web site, allowing citizens to view crime maps similar to those used internally. As internal maps are updated, so are the public maps, enabling the public to see almost in real time where robberies, burglaries, and thefts are occurring in their neighborhoods.

As part of this initiative, the crime statistics portion of the Shreveport Police Department’s web site has undergone a complete renovation to allow easy access to crime information. In addition to the interactive GIS Crime Maps, citizens can access the same monthly and annual reports provided to the City Council, view detailed street maps defining police districts, sign up for Crime Web to receive crime alerts and reports for their neighborhoods, or submit a tip to Crime Stoppers.

Police Chief Henry Whitehorn touted the new technology, saying, “We have long recognized the vital role our citizens play in reducing crime and it is our hope that sharing this data will increase awareness and prove to be a valuable resource in our crime reduction efforts.”

Members of the media are invited to attend and film portions of our Crime Focus meeting tomorrow morning to observe first hand how the police department’s command staff uses this technology to attack crime problems. The Crime Focus meeting will begin at 9:00 a.m. and is held in the Chief’s Conference Room on the first floor of the Police Complex.

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View all SPD press releases at www.shreveportla.gov