Monday, January 5. 2009

DC Gov Drops Daily Crime E-mail, Users Unhappy with alternative, a Map

The daily crime e-mail had been sent out by the D.C. police to the public via e-mail. It included all crimes in each of the department's districts, broken down by Police Service Area. The e-mails have been dropped per Assistant Police Chief Diane Groomes because they often included information that may have jeopardized police work. Instead, the DC police offer a map built on the acclaimed DC Atlas.

That app is quite complex, allowing search near an address, searching on a specific crime, etc. GIS may love it but some, like the Georgetown Metropolitan Blog (GMT) finds it wanting compared to the sleek text listing. (Full review from the blog including what are suggested as better alternatives: below is a summary.)

...it’s terrible. It’s based on inferior mapping software, it’s difficult to use, and it doesn’t allow you to actually find out any information on each crime. For crime maps, there are better options out there. But a crime map is not a satisfactory replacement for a daily list. MPD has offered the crime map for years, why does it all of the sudden think that it’s a better option than daily blotters?

The response of both NBC and GMT sounds rational: find a way not to include the information that shouldn't be included and keep the e-mails coming!

- NBC Washington