CrimeIsDown takes the confusion out of monitoring Chicago crime with data-driven tools.
Last year in Chicago, a person was shot on average every four hours. Garry McCarthy, the Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department (CPD), had reported to Mayor Rahm Emanuel that 2013 saw 415 murders which was 88 fewer than the previous year (2012 was a particularly violent year), and 1,864 total shootings. Chicago crime is a very complex problem.
In the 2010 US Census, Chicago's population dropped by at least 200,000 people, the largest drops coming from areas plagued by violent crime. As the population has dropped, the per-capita homicide rate has risen in many communities on the South and West sides.
This terrifying crime epidemic is forcing middle-class families to move away from these areas, towards the safer North side or out to suburbs, further isolating the remaining residents.
Losing the middle-class population of Chicago means losing the foundation of Chicago. Something must be done to stop it.
Lots of news organizations have enhanced their coverage of crime in Chicago, with dedicated overnight reporters which interview victims, longer video stories, journalists tracking each homicide case from beginning to end, and national media spreading the story. Much of the breaking news is first heard on a police scanner, so it is critical that the facts get reported correctly as much of what is heard is unconfirmed reports.
In the heat of the moment, it is not easy to piece together the facts. There is lots of yelling, addresses being thrown out so officers can respond, and clicking noises from radios. For a new crime reporter, piecing together the situation after a shooting or other violent event can be confusing and time-consuming. This prevents journalists from doing what they do best: tell stories and informing the public to hold officials accountable.
To help bring clarity to the facts and save time for anyone following Chicago crime, we created "CrimeIsDown.com", a set of data-driven tools to take out the confusion from listening to the police scanner. Normally, if an incident is occurring, the first news may come from social media such as Twitter, with an included address. CrimeIsDown.com's tools help you follow that incident from beginning to end. Some of the tools we have include an address-to-radio-zone mapper, as well as a large database of police and fire unit numbers pulled from various sources.
With these tools, anyone following the story can better understand the situation and be more knowledgeable about the facts while saving time. No longer are you looking up IDs in a 20-page document or referencing outdated maps. Creating convenient tools and storing them in a central place will save time for any reader/listener interested in crime.
Currently, sites like SpotCrime and EveryBlock show crimes that have happened most recently as a day ago, with only some context. Services like Broadcastify let citizens observe a real-time event, but without context. CrimeIsDown.com focuses on real-time incidents and provides contextual information, thus making the user even more aware and knowledgeable.
Journalists are known for telling great stories that deserve to be heard, and often are first to hold public officials accountable. CrimeIsDown.com lets those storytellers focus on the issue itself, rather than getting bogged down in the often-murky details of each incident. These tools are one small step towards making the phrase "Crime Is Down" a reality.
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