Finding out where crimes are happening in Auburn neighborhoods now is only a few computer keystrokes away on the city’s new online crime-mapping tool.

Provided by CrimeReports.com, the new Internet-based system maps where crimes have occurred in the city on a daily basis. Click on the icon and a pop-up reveals the kind of crime, the location by block, when it happened and the police report number.

The Google map includes crimes for the entire city over the past three to 30 days. The system also can map crime by neighborhood and by specific type, and turn crime statistics into trend charts and graphs.

The reported locations of registered sex offenders also is provided on the map.

The idea is to put crime information in the hands of its citizens and put more eyes on the streets to help solve crimes, Assistant Police Chief Larry Miller says.

The city pays a monthly fee of $90 to CrimeReports.com, which collects crime data provided by the Police Department in near-real time and displays it a standardized format.

Residents can also sign up for a neighborhood crime alert delivered free by e-mail.

“This is one of the tools we wanted to provide to (neighborhood) Block Watch,” Miller said.

CrimeReports.com does not provide complete police reports. Those can be requested through the Police Department.

Miller said Auburn police determine the kinds of information it wants displayed. Crimes mapped include thefts, assaults, breaking and entering, theft from a vehicle, theft of a car, robbery and sites with multiple crimes.

The department has its own internal crime-mapping system that provides real-time data for officers, including detailed police reports.

Users of the CrimeReports.com site can check crime statistics in other client cities.

The company services more than 500 law enforcement agencies across the country, according to the company Web site. Ten are in Washington state, including Olympia, Lacey, Tumwater and Yelm.

mike.archbold@thenewstribune.com

Mike Archbold: 253-597-8692

Map how-to

To use CrimeReports.com:

 • Go to www.auburnwa.com/crimereports.

 • Enter an address of interest (home, office, school, etc.).

 • Click on “Get Report” to see criminal activity in a given area on the map.

For example, the map displayed on the site Monday showed 138 crimes and their locations in Auburn between July 4 and Aug. 3. For the past three days, it showed 17 crime locations.

Crime victims identities are not shown. Street addresses of crimes are converted to the “block level.” For example, the address 1486 Lincoln Ave. would be mapped and displayed as the 1400 block of Lincoln Avenue.

Mike Archbold, The News Tribune