The Charlottesville Police Department is mapping all crime reports, CBS-19 reports. Their CrimeView website allows people to map selected classes of crimes over selected a period in selected parts of the city, which means that citizens can keep tabs on trends in a way that would not otherwise be possible. Particularly useful is the “CyberWatch” feature, which allows you to enter your e-mail address, location, and a radius, which will e-mail you to notify you of any crimes reported within that area. (Albemarle County already provides a very similar service by having CrimeReports.com syndicate their data.) Unfortunately, the resulting maps can’t be embedded on other websites and also lack unique URLs, so you can’t share the output, which really limits its utility, but it’s still a big improvement.
Sideblog
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
-
Archive for Sideblog »
Some site re-coding needs to be done before Macs can use the crime reports page. The map is partly off the screen on a Mac.
A fellow Mac user, I experienced that when I first loaded the page…but then it was fine, and I haven’t been able to get the problem to repeat. That’s with Safari 4.0.4.
I haven’t been able to find an RSS feed for it, but I was hoping to…
I gotta say, I’d prefer a more interactive map itself (not having to click each tool separately before I can pan, zoom, ID, etc), but it’s certainly a start. I’m impatient. I want to click and drag the map, not have to click pan and then move the map. I want to use the visible zoom scale (or my touchpad) and not have to click zoom in/out before the scale works. I want to click on the little icons and have them display the info, not have to click info first and then click on the icon. You get the picture, I’m sure.
(For an example of what I mean, geocaching.com’s use of google maps is pretty cool. http://www.geocaching.com/map/default.aspx?lat=38.02931&lng=-78.47668 )
Math Shows Some Crime Hot Spots Can Be Cooled, Others Only Relocated. http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/02/crime-hot-spots/#ixzz0gStcElvX
Interesting tool. Queried for all locations all crimes for the past seven days, hit and run is in the lead with 14 occurrences.
Vandalism & simple assault share second place with 9 each.
Citizens have requested traffic calming for a long time.