Police Warn About ‘Shake and Bake’ Meth

Police in West Virginia are warning law enforcement about a new way of manufacturing meth that is easier and is harder to detect. The new method has been dubbed “shake and bake” meth, and can be made with ordinary, over-the-counter products and can be mixed in a two-liter soda bottle. The new form of meth manufacturing requires less space and less equipment and does not give off as much of a smell, making it harder to detect.

The method has spread across Arkansas and is making it’s way into other states.

Source: http://www.dailymail.com/News/statenews/200908110712

Get on the crime map at CrimeReports.com

Record Growth in June for CrimeReports.com Indicates Law Enforcement Trend Toward Online Communication

We at CrimeReports are all very happy about our recent growth and our record-breaking month of June. Below is a press release highlighting our recent success and the law enforcement community’s forward-thinking views on sharing crime information with the public:

June represents a record-breaking month for CrimeReports.com, signing new partnerships with 49 law enforcement agencies across the U.S. These new partnerships represent close to a 10 percent growth for the world leader in online crime mapping in the last month. Currently, CrimeReports publishes live crime information for close to 500 law enforcement agencies across North America and is working with more than 50 others that will begin publishing their crimes live within the next 60 days.

CrimeReports’ rapid growth indicates a trend in law enforcement away from traditional weekly crime blotters and toward the use of online communication, including social media, to disseminate crime information more quickly and efficiently. As a result, publishing crime maps and providing crime alerts, like those provided by CrimeReports, is quickly becoming the standard for forward-thinking agencies across North America. “From a customer service perspective, let’s get that online so people can do their own analysis of what’s going on in the neighborhood,” said Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis, discussing CrimeReports in a recent Boston Herald article.

Although there are other crime-mapping websites, few can boast partnerships with more than a few dozen agencies, whereas CrimeReports is signing up an average of 30 agencies a month. “Our growth has been astounding,” said Greg Whisenant, Founder and CEO of CrimeReports. “We started with one agency just two years ago, so our explosive growth really shows how law enforcement agencies have been hungry for a service like this and have been amazingly forward thinking in adopting it so quickly.”

In addition, CrimeReports’ internal-facing analytics tool, Command Central, is now being used by nearly 50 agencies nationwide and will expand further in the coming months.

Get on the crime map at CrimeReports.com

Stumble It!

Law Enforcement Increasingly Using Twitter to Keep Public Informed

More and more law enforcement agencies are embracing social media as a way to disseminate information quickly to the public. Although many local police departments have a Facebook page, increasingly Twitter is becoming the social media platform of choice of law enforcement agencies.

They use Twitter to send out information on fires, SWAT team deployments, traffic accidents, and more, so that citizens who subscribe to the department’s Twitter feed can avoid those hot spots.

Potentially, Twitter also could serve as a great feedback tool for police departments, but as Boston Police Commissioner, Guglielmi, points out, following up with the interactive aspect of Twitter would currently take a lot of effort and man-power. As such, many department are content simply to use the service as a broadcasting tool, kind of a like a 21st century police scanner.

Using it, as such, is useful to citizens, but is not necessarily using the technology at its full potential. As this technology continues to gain popularity, here’s hoping that police agencies can utilize social networking as a two-way communication tool, proving better service and reducing crime at the same time.

Source: http://thecrimereport.org/2009/07/06/twitter-this/

Inform your citizens about crime in their community by getting on the crime map at CrimeReports.com

Florida Law Enforcement Embraces Social Networking

The Broward County Sheriff, as well as the police in Boynton Beach and Boca Raton, Florida, were recently highlighted in a news story by the Boson Herald. These are just a few of the agencies that have adopted social networking as a way to access citizens, both to disseminate information and to collect it.

These agencies have set up accounts on Twitter and Facebook. Through these sites, the police are able to post bulletins about public safety issues, community announcements, etc. In addition, citizens who have become fans on Facebook, or those who follow the Twitter feed, can send messages to the police department.

For example, recently, the Boyton Beach PD tweeted asking for the identity of a man who recently robbed a gas station at gunpoint. The tweet linked to a photo of the suspect. Although the case has yet to be solved, the demographic of people who use social media is expanding, and law enforcement agencies have the potential to access thousands of eyes and ears on the street, something they have never had access too before.

Source: http://bostonherald.com/jobfind/news/technology/view.bg?articleid=1180408

Search crime in your neighborhood at CrimeReports.com

Crime Down in 2008: FBI Nationwide Crime Report

The FBI just recently published its official crime statistics for 2008, and crime overall, was down from 2007. Here’s hoping that we can continue the trend in 2009. Visit the FBI’s annual crime statistics for 2008 here.

Search crime in your neighborhood at CrimeReports.com

Texas Unveils Improved Sex Offender Website

The Texas Department of Public Safety recently updated their sex offender website. The new website allows users to search for sex offenders by name, zip code, address, and more. And citizens can sign up for free email alerts for changes in an offender’s record or if they move. The improved site also provides more details information on the offender’s history and offenses, including offenses committed out of state.

Source: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6443145.html

Search Crime in your area at CrimeReports.com

The Myth of Rising Crime: Citizen Perception vs. Statistical Evidence

Over the past few days, a number of articles have been published dealing with citizens’ perception of crime versus the actual crime data coming out of police departments. Overall, it seems that most people feel that crime is on the rise, even though most areas of the country are actually experiencing a drop in crime.

New York, LA, New Jersey, San Francisco, and other large populations centers are all experiencing a recent drop in crime that has largely gone unpublished in the media. In addition, there is a common-sense line of thinking that states that when the economy goes bad, crime goes up. However logical this may seem, there is actually no proven correlation between a bad economy and high crime rates. In fact, proving such a correlation is almost impossible because of the sheer amount of variables involved. But these factors go into the formation of public opinion that crime is on the rise, when the numbers actually contradict that assumption.

The Item published an interesting article recently about the fine line of reporting crime, basically asking the question: how do you balance giving the public the information they need without overplaying the amount of crime committed? Perhaps the solution lies in getting more information out to the public through tools like CrimeReports.com, Twitter, Facebook, and other internet and print-based media.

Is the perception of crime higher than the reality in your area? What can we do to change it? Leave a comment.

Sources:
Hudson Reporter
LA Times
Contra Costa Times
New York Daily News
The Item

Related Post: Bad Economy=More Crime?
Search crime in your area at CrimeReports.com

As Economy Worsens, Domestic Abuse Rises

The recent fall in the economy has more than just financial repercussion for some families. Seventy-five percent of domestic abuse shelters have seen a sharp rise in cases since last September and most of them attribute the rise to the failing economy.

Rita Smith, executive director of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, says, “domestic violence is a crime of access. Since a significant number of people have lost their jobs in the last six months that means more people are at home together for long periods of time. Money has always been an issue that causes stress between couples and in families.”

Source: http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm?aid=4017

Search crime in your neighborhood at CrimeReports.com

Wesleyan University Murder Refocuses Nation on Stalking

The murder of Johanna Justin-Jinich, a Wesleyan University student, has refocused the nation on the crime of stalking. Justin-Jinich’s suspected killer was a former classmate, who made harassing phone calls and sent threatening emails. Justin-Jinich filed a police report at one time, to report the incidents, but she never pressed charges and police never followed-up with the suspect.

This case is just another reminder that stalking is often not reported or not recognized until it is too late. States like Connecticut, have some anti-stalking laws, where perpetrators can be charged with harassment and victims can file restraining orders against their aggressors.

But most people don’t know that stalking is a crime. If an individual is making repeated phone calls to you, sending harassing emails, or spreading rumors about you through word-of-mouth or electronic means (such as Facebook or MySpace), they are committing a crime, and it should be taken seriously. Some people have the mentality that, “well, they’re just calling, they’re not actually ‘doing’ anything.” But it is important to know that these indicators can lead to more serious crimes like assault, rape, and murder.

If you are being harassed here are some tips:

• Contact your local police department, it is important to establish official documentation of any problems so that police can get involved as soon as possible.
• Keep all emails, letters, or other communication from the stalker, including voicemails, if possible.
• Tell people about the harassment. Don’t keep it to yourself; make sure the people you care about know what is happening.
• If the stalking escalates, file a restraining order.

Source: http://www.courant.com/community/news/mr/hc-stalk.artmay19,0,7703682.story
Source: http://www.courant.com/community/news/mr/hc-stalkside.artmay19,0,1809003.story

Search crime in your neighborhood at CrimeReports.com

LA Schools Accused of Covering Up Sexual Abuse

Last year, a jury ordered the LA School district to pay 1.6 million to families of three girls molested by Ricardo Guevara, an elementary school teacher. However, an LA Times investigation found that this was actually the third time Guevara had been accused of molestation. In the first two instances, prosecutors didn’t have enough evidence to prosecute, and Guevara was quietly sent back into the classroom. Not only was Guevara protected by the school district after his first two offences, but he was teaching again in no time.

This blatant disregard for the safety of our children is par for the course in the LA school district. The LA Times article goes on to site multiple teachers who were accused of sexual misconduct with students and moved to a different school, only to be charged again and found guilt after molesting more children.

Granted, not all teachers accused of sexual misconduct are guilty, but should there not be a better system of supervision for the people that spend every day with our children? The LA Times piece goes on to state that even if prosecutors did not convict an accused child molester, the school district had the right to dismiss the teachers based on any level of misconduct with a student. But the school district failed to do so.

We should not let our children be victims of a system that looks out for its own well being over a child’s. Get informed about your children’s teachers, know who else is in the classroom, and what adults have access to your children when they are away from you at school.

Read the full LA Times investigation and watch the powerful story of a victim of the LA school district’s misconduct here.

Search crime in your neighborhood at CrimeReports.com