News Flash

The intention of the tool, according to SHPD, is to provide a tool for crime prevention, community awareness, and data transparency.

The Digital Crime Map tool, created and run by the Sterling Heights Information Technology team, will be useful for anyone interested in monitoring crime activity in his or her neighborhood. SHPD plans to post all events that police respond to — except those that potentially put a victim at risk or expose an undercover operation.

“By plotting what, when, and where crimes are occurring, Sterling Heights Police leadership will be able to use the resulting visual data to identify crime hotspots,” said IT Director Steve Deon.”

Using the Digital Crime Map tool, citizens can:

• See crime nearly real-time crime activity based on their current location or a desired location
• Feel empowered to better understand crime trends and potentially help lower crime in their neighborhoods based on the information
• Provide anonymous tips through the website if they have information on a crime that occurred

SHPD eventually hopes to use this information to allocate uniformed patrol officers and/or undercover surveillance units to areas of repeated criminal activity. This software is also a useful reporting tool because it can generate the crime statistics required to fulfill the Uniformed Crime Report (UCR) mandatory reporting requirements.

“Our goal is reducing crime through a better-informed citizenry,” said Sterling Heights Police Captain Ken Pappas. “Creating more self-reliance among community members is a great benefit to community-oriented policing efforts and has been proven effective in combating crime.”

The SHPD Crime Map can be found at www.sterling-heights.net/crimemapping or by going to Government > Police Department > Digital Crime Map.

Media with additional questions can contact Community Relations Director Bridget Kozlowski at (584) 446-2471 or at bkoz@sterling-heights.net.