Web Site Allows Citizens to Keep Tabs on Crime

BENNINGTON - Those wondering where the Sheriff’s Department has been and when will now be able to find out using the Internet.

Bennington CountySheriff Chad Schmidt said he has signed the departmentup withCrimereports.com, a Web site that plots the location and time of incidents where a deputy has filed a report onto a map.

"As we enter the data into the state system, this company comes in and maps it to Google," Schmidt said. The Bennington map can be accessed from the department’s Web site. Users simply click the Crime Reports tab on the left side of the screen.

Once they do, they are shown a Google map of Bennington County. Above the map is a tool bar allowing incidents from the past, three, seven, and 30 days to appear as specific icons that indicate the type of call. The icons show property crime, traffic violations, assault, theft, and others. The only information available through the site is the date, location, and nature of the incident. The date can be seen by clicking on the icon itself.

Users looking to see specific types of crime can single out what they want to see using the toolbar.

Schmidt said the site has been active since the beginning of March but was in a test phase since February. The service costs the department $99 per month and it caters to law enforcement organizations. Schmidt said the department has all of the information anyway, so the

service is primarily for the public to see where police activity is occurring. He said the Bennington Police Department has expressed an interest in the same service, but does not know when or how they might implement it.

Because something shows up on Crimereports.com does not necessarily mean an arrest was made, Schmidt said. If an icon indicates a theft on Pleasant Street, it simply means that a deputy was called there for a reported theft. Whether that is what it turned out to be in the end or if an arrest was made is not shown, Schmidt said.

There are some drawbacks to the site, he said, namely that the placement of the icons is not precise. If multiple incidents occur on one road or street, they will often be lumped together as a multiple incident icon over the same spot.

He said the service mainly lets citizens know that the department is active, as towns and other entities enter contracts with the department for police coverage. Towns without grant funding typically pay between $24 and $25 per hour for a deputy to be in town 10 to 15 hours per week. Some towns contract for 40 hours per week.

By: Keith Whitcomb Featured in The The Bennington Banner on 3/26/2010

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