Spotsy Crime Reports Get Web 2.0 Treatment

Want to know what all those lights and sirens in your neck of Spotsylvania were about? Well, now anyone with an internet connection can explore Spotsylvania County's criminal geography with the website CrimeMapping.com.

"Having well informed residents has been proven effective in reducing crime," wrote Spotsylvania County Sheriff's Public Information Officer Michael Timm in a press release announcing the new service. "We encourage the public to become familiar with this resource and use it to familiarize themselves with crime information in their neighborhoods and community."

The service provides basic information on a broad range of public safety incidents, from car accidents, to graffiti, to drug violations and more. The system utilizes a Geographic Information System map to display icons representing 14 categories of crime.  Each icon represents an actual crime report, not just calls for service received by the Sheriff’s Office. A click on the icons 

The service allows users to enter an address and look at all crime nearby the area with a radius ranging from 500 feet to 2 miles.  Users can also look at different types of crime and create customized reports from the service. It generally takes 24 hours to get crime information uploaded to the system where it remains in place for 180 days.