Reading Taps New Technology To Predict And Prevent Crime

Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It won’t replace city police officers’ intuition. It’s several techno-steps beyond the crime-mapping Reading has been doing for 30 years. It’s not criminal profiling.

And it’s not psychic.

But PredPol claims its software technology can tell police when and where the next crimes are likely to occur, within a few blocks.

“We are always seeking ways to improve our ability to fight crime in our city – in this case, preventing it before it happens,” Mayor Vaughn D. Spencer said at a press conference Thursday. “This technology is a force multiplier.”

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=516734

Mapping System Keeps Berks Residents Abreast Of Crime

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Berks County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Editor’s note:  This is an awesome tool!!!

Of the four reported crimes in Birdsboro between March 20 and Tuesday, none was likely to be newsworthy.

The crimes reported to police, according to www.CrimeMapping.com, were a vandalism incident at East Second and Hook streets; a theft in the 300 block of Furnace Street; a burglary in the 900 block of Berks Street; and a drunken driver in the 400 block of East Eighth Street.

But just because these apparently unrelated incidents didn’t grab headlines doesn’t mean nobody besides the victims is interested.

As a way of helping the public keep abreast of crimes in their communities, nearly every police department in Berks County feeds data to www.CrimeMapping.com.

Read more:  http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=464627