New and Improved CrimeReports Gives Millions of Citizens the Opportunity to Interact and Work With Law Enforcement

SEATTLE, WA--(Marketwired - Oct 5, 2016) -

• The new CrimeReports -- now available to the public at www.crimereports.com -- includes an easy to use map where citizens can filter crime information to see when (time, day), where (neighborhoods, precincts), and what types of crime are being reported, as well as draw further insights from basic trend graphs and lightweight analytics
• Law enforcement agencies, citizens, media and other organizations can easily embed customized views of CrimeReports on websites, as well as easily share details of an incident via social media
• Citizens can share tips and register private security cameras with police, as well as sign up for email alerts on any device, including user-friendly mobile applications available for download on Android and iOS

The new and improved CrimeReports crime-sharing tool from Socrata and Motorola Solutions (NYSE: MSI), is now available to the general public at www.crimereports.com, as well as user-friendly mobile applications downloadable for Android and iOS. Designed to help law enforcement agencies communicate local activity, CrimeReports is available to help citizens find, explore, and interact with crime data, trends, and statistics.

"Citizens are increasingly expecting government to provide modern, digital services, just as they experience in their professional and personal lives," says Robin Jones, General Manager, Public Safety, at Socrata. "The new CrimeReports allows agencies to not just publish data in an easy-to-interpret and accessible way, but to provide insights and context that enables members of the community to understand the data and engage in being part of the community policing effort."

More than 1,100 Agencies Report Crime via CrimeReports

CrimeReports is one of the largest, most comprehensive citizen-facing crime-mapping websites in North America, serving 1,100 law enforcement agencies and providing the 100-million people served by those agencies with crime information and personalized alerts. Using its expertise in working with hundreds of governments around the world to publish data in a consumable way, Socrata's new design includes an improved mapping interface that makes it easier for citizens to find incidents and see additional data about individual crimes, as well as answer other questions they have about crime trends in their area. Additional filters for crime results, including date range and crime type, and numerous other features enable citizens to draw additional insights (how-to video available here).

"Improving the quality of life for the citizens of Harris County is a primary goal of the Harris County Sheriff's Office, and by taking a proactive stance to develop an informed citizenry, we can meet this challenge," says Harris County (TX) Sheriff Ron Hickman. "We are providing CrimeReports for our communities as a vital tool to increase trust, encourage more engagement, and empower our citizens to be additional eyes and ears for our agency."

Agencies have already experienced increased web traffic and engagement during the beta release of the new CrimeReports. For example, Portland (Ore.) Police Bureau saw a 20x increase in traffic to CrimeReports when they embedded the crime map on their department's homepage.

"The foundation for community policing starts by building trust and dialogue between our agency and the community members we serve," says Chief Michael Marshman, Portland Police Bureau. "CrimeReports allows us to form a dialogue based on transparency with our citizens about the crimes and trends happening in their neighborhoods and what we, and they, can do to help provide us with the critical information we may need to help us solve the crime, make the arrest, and keep our communities safe."

The new CrimeReports allows citizens to engage with law enforcement by signing up for customized alerts about crime in an area and the ability to share incidents via social media. In addition to providing accurate, timely information, the new site encourages citizens to submit tips and register private security cameras, in an effort to help increase neighborhood safety. Additionally, agencies can use Socrata's newly released Perspectives storytelling product to provide further narrative and context to the data published in CrimeReports to help engage with communities.

"CrimeReports has become an important tool for government agencies sharing increased information with the citizens they serve," says Tom Guthrie, Vice President, Motorola Solutions Smart Public Safety. "Agencies can further increase community engagement by using Motorola Solutions' TipSoft, which is built into CrimeReports. The service allows citizens to send anonymous tips to police and CrimeStopper organizations while allowing agencies to send emergency alerts to residents."

The new CrimeReports also helps satisfy local and national initiatives for accountability and transparency such as the White House Police Data Initiative and the university and college-security related Clery Act.

"The new CrimeReports creates a mechanism for law enforcement to demonstrate a commitment towards openness, transparency, and an informed citizenry, to further progress public trust," says Jim Burch, Police Foundation Vice President, Strategic Initiatives. "Trust enables opportunities for dialogue, including an open channel for sharing information back to the law enforcement agency. It sets in motion a positive feedback loop and a force multiplier for police agencies."

About Socrata:
Socrata is the market leader in Cloud-based Data Democratization solutions for Government (CDDG). Socrata enables city, county, state and federal government organizations to make their data discoverable, usable, and actionable by government knowledge workers and citizens. Socrata CDDG solutions dramatically impact the effectiveness of government programs, whether they are aimed at improving quality of life for citizens, establishing sustainable economic impact, or achieving excellence in government operations.

Socrata CDDG solutions are designed and purpose-built to meet the strictest, most secure government information security standards, optimized on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Public Sector cloud, and delivered using the exclusive Socrata Blueprint Methodology. To learn more about Socrata, visit socrata.com. To learn more about its public safety offerings, visit publicsafety.socrata.com.