Chicago resident and journalist Adrian Holovaty started a site called ChicagoCrime.org in 2005 after persuading city police to share crime data with him... His project is now called Everyblock.com, and covers nine of the largest U.S. cities, including New York, Washington D.C., and Seattle.
Holovaty said he will soon offer the software he's developed for free to municipalities around the country. "It's an experiment in journalism," he said.
Crimereports.com, based in Utah, uses a different model. The firm charges local police departments $99-$199 per month to publish their data on the CrimeReports' Web site. So, far, says founder Greg Whisenant, 260 cities have signed up since the service launched in May of 2007.
"I think CrimeReports is the future," said Utah attorney general Mark Shurtleff. "People are really excited about it here." He says about half of Utah cities are already up and running on the site. (more)
More about 'Shame as a Crime Prevention Tool'.
