Darien Police Put Crime Online

An informed community is a safe community. That’s the philosophy behind CrimeReports.com, a website that’s putting crime online.

CrimeReports uses information from a police department’s daily blotter to provide an online database of hyperlocal crime. Nearly 600 law enforcement agencies across the country subscribe to the service, and this week, the Darien Police followed suit.

“Providing reliable, timely information to our citizens is one of our top priorities,” said Chief Duane Lovello. “And we hope that giving the community this information will help them prevent crime in their neighborhoods.”

Lieutenant Ray Osborne and Officer T.J. Moore coordinated the initiative as an additional effort to share information with the community. The site is free to users and allows residents to receive daily, weekly or monthly alerts via e-mail, if and when crimes occur near specific locations within the town’s boundaries.

The department pays a population-based fee of $99 a monthly for the service, which Chief Lovello says will come from the “false alarm fund.” The false police-alarm ordinance has generated over $40,000 in fines since its implementation in January.

“Providing residents with crime reports, almost instantaneously, is a very worthy investment,” said Sergeant Jeremiah Marron who worked closely with Chief Lovello in coordination of the partnership.

But sharing crime reports with the community is no novelty. Police reports have long been public information, and much of that information is already available online. What’s new in CrimeReports.com, is a system for extracting files from disparate police databases. A web trick known as a “mashup” allows CrimeReports to collect and map all police activity in one central online location.

It is Sgt. Marron’s hope that such increased transparency will help the department to further develop and nurture their relationship with the community.

“There’s a consensus that the Darien Police have nothing to do," he said. "If residents can be part of what we’re doing, and the statistics prompt them to take necessary precautions in crime prevention, I think it’s a win-win."

Chief Lovello agrees:

“Information is power.”

But the same idea that drives the project forward may also be a drawback.

For one, posting criminal information presents a potential safety issue. While CrimeReports.com only posts the block in which a crime occurred or was reported, so as to protect victims' privacy, withholding a street number may not be a sufficient safety measure in a small town like Darien. Police will not to post domestic violence incidents on the site for that reason, said Sgt. Marron. The selection of publishable "crime types" is one of the few ways departments can exercise control as to what does and does not go online.

Second, it remains unclear whether the service will actually prompt crime prevention or just provoke paranoia.

“Like any new project, this is a work in progress and we’re looking forward to hearing feedback,” said Marron, who added that if successful, he’d like to see nearby communities join the CrimeReports.com bandwagon.

Currently, only two other communities in Connecticut—Guilford and Branford—subscribe to the service.

CrimeReports.com already has a fan in Selectman Jayme Stevenson.

"It's fascinating. When you go online you will see how incredibly busy our officers are," said Stevenson at the Board of Selectmen meeting Nov. 23. "I applaud the efforts of our department."

You can access your local activity map and sign up for daily, weekly, or monthly email crime alerts here: DarienPolice.org/CrimeReports