Detroit Police, long criticized for not keeping track of crime and having outdated statistics, has launched an interactive crime map on the agency's Web site that allows users to map every type of crime within a half-mile of an address.
The site maps crimes that occurred as recently as a week ago.
Police Chief Ella M. Bully-Cummings launched its CrimeView Community program to share crime data with residents, said Detroit Police spokesman James Tate.
"We understand it's important for us to have informed community," he said. "An informed community is the best type that can assist us in crime prevention."
Crime experts say, however, there haven't been any studies to show whether systems such as CrimeView have an impact on crime prevention.
"If we really wanted to know the impact, we have to take a bunch of cities and test what the impact was over time," said Christopher Maxwell, an associate professor of criminal justice at Michigan State University.
To use the system, users plug in an address or cross street, select the type of crime they want to view and the distance within a half-mile radius. Information on the site will be updated daily, Tate said.
The biggest users of crime mapping programs are business owners or people looking to purchase homes, Maxwell said. "Crime is pretty regular," he said. "You can pretty much predict where the high areas are going to be if it's been that way for a fair amount of time."
Resident Austin Black, a real estate agent who lives in Midtown, said he plans to use the system.
"It's good for residents to know what's going in their neighborhood," he said.
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