Bellevue Police Department Launches New Online Crime Map

Bellevue residents can look up crime in their neighborhoods, now that the has made an official launch of its CrimeMapping.com website, the department announced Monday afternoon.

The site went live on June 12 as a new effort to proactively share information with the public, according to a press release.

“We are one of only a few in the state to launch this interactive mapping service and look forward to its successful use by our citizens,” said Investigations Major Mike Johnson in a prepared statement.

The .

The website allows residents to see a map of recent crime activity near a user specified address. They can also select crime types, date ranges, generate reports, and receive e-mail updates as well as free crime alerts.

The old incident map the Police Department had on their site was popular but outdated, according to the release. The new map offers more choices and provides timely information to the community.

The Police Department now provides a new level of transparency for the 132,000 residents it serves, the police department reported.

According to the department, among the new map's uses are:

• Crime Prevention detectives can use the map at community meetings to provide reliable crime information and encourage citizens to report offenses.
• Crimemapping.com has been proven effective in reducing crime in other local communities by increasing the number of eyes and ears that are aware of local activity.

You can get to the map through the Bellevue Police Department website at http://www.bellevuewa.gov/police.htm and directly at http://www.crimemapping.com/map/wa/bellevue

On the web

http://www.crimemapping.com/map/wa/bellevue