One of the most important tools in crime prevention and
safety is getting an accurate and timely picture of what
is going on.
Eastern Michigan University and the City of Ypsilanti
are taking that picture one step further.
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MAPPING CRIME: Eastern Michigan University's
Department of Public Safety and the Ypsilanti Police
Department have partnered with EMU's Institute
for
Geospatial Research to create a mapping/tracking
system for area crime. The map allows one to see
where crimes are committed on campus and in
Ypsilanti,
and what types. |
By partnering with EMU's Institute for Geospatial Research,
EMU's Department of Public Safety and the Ypsilanti Police
Department have created a mapping/tracking system for area
crime.
"We saw an opportunity to use EMU resources to help the
campus and the community by providing timely, accurate
information that enhances the safety of our campus," said
Susan Martin, president of EMU.
"This is part of our commitment to having a transparent
police agency," said Greg O'Dell, executive director of
public safety at EMU. "With this addition to our Web site,
people have total access to a lot of information."
"We want to increase the awareness of what's going on
out there. If we increase awareness, people will have a
better understanding of what is going on and take appropriate
action," said O'Dell.
The crime mapping application is located on the DPS Web
site at http://geodata.acad.emich.edu/Crime/Main.htm
and provides users with a visual representation of where
crime is occurring by adding markers to a map of the campus
and the city. The application uses the Google mapping Web
interface to plot the points where crimes occur.
"DPS posts the data daily to its Web site and the application
looks at that data and maps it," said Mike Dueweke, manager
of EMU's Institute for Geospatial Research.
The map locates the crime within the correct block, but
does not pinpoint the exact address to ensure the victim's
privacy, O'Dell said.
Dueweke said that, while EMU's crimes will appear almost
immediately, Ypsilanti's reporting process would take longer
to log crimes in the system.
Users of the Web site can see crimes that have occurred
in the past 60 days. Crimes tracked include the seven Clery
Act categories (arson, aggravated assault, burglary, criminal
sexual conduct, motor vehicle theft, murder and robbery)
as well as larceny from a vehicle.
"One of the nice things is that this is not labor intensive
for us," O'Dell said. "We do not have to devote working
resources to it."
Dueweke said that the application took several months
to create and cost about $15,000.
Having the City of Ypsilanti participate in the project
was very important, O'Dell said.
"Our students are part of the larger community of Ypsilanti,
so it is very important that they can get the entire picture
of what is happening on campus and in the community," O'Dell
said.
O'Dell cautioned that, while having more information is
better, the data must be compared to other campuses to
get the clearest assessment of what is happening and how
EMU compares to other universities.
"They have to continue to use the data and compare our
numbers at EMU to other campuses around the state. If they
do the comparisons, they will see that our numbers, for
the most part, are in the middle of the pack and lower
in some cases," said O'Dell.
"There have been some misconceptions about what is going
on. With this, anyone can drill down and see what is happening," O'Dell
said.
