By MADELYN FAIRBANKS
Published July 4, 2012

Online map lets you track crime in your neighborhood
SNOHOMISH - The city’s crime force just got a face-lift.
Police Chief John Flood said it is past time the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office “freshen things up” and upgrade the 20-year-old software it had been using to track crime by creating an online crime map of the county, updated on a daily basis and accessible to anyone.
The sheriff’s office recently entered into an agreement with CrimeMapping.com, a service that captures raw criminal information beginning with the 911 call and all the way up to the type of disturbance, where it happened and accompanying incident number.
As of now, the data isn’t corrected to reflect unfounded reports.
And now, you can see it too.
Flood explained that the information is stored in an Microsoft Excel database format and uploaded to the website each night at midnight, so that members of the community can be informed within 24 hours of crime in their area.
“Right now, all people know (about neighborhood crime), they hear from their neighbor,” Flood said. “This will allow them to see what’s represented in real time, to take a look at their neighborhood and see what’s going on.”
Snohomish’s CrimeMap was launched on June 12, coinciding with the newly formed public safety commission’s first meeting that same night.
Although a link to CrimeMapping.com is not yet on the city website, accessing the information is easy. In your Internet browser, go to www.CrimeMapping.com. You’ll first see a map of the United States.
Click on Washington state, and you’ll then be prompted to a list of areas; click on “Snohomish County Sheriff.”
Different types of crimes are indicated on the map by various icons, such as an exclamation point for disturbing the peace and a dollar sign for theft. Once the icon is selected, a bubble will pop up, displaying to the user the incident number, description, and the date, time and location of the crime.
Flood said these features will help to keep citizens informed, as the detailed information allows anyone to follow up on the report with a public records disclosure request for further information.  
“I want people to use it; I want our neighborhoods to be informed,” Flood said.