Invite your local police department!

In addition to users posting crimes, PostaCrime also relies on local police department report information to populate our database. Many of you have emailed us asking us to send an invitation to your local police departments asking them to participate in PostaCrime.com, which has been successful (Thank you!). We're working with several as we speak to begin providing data.

We've created a simple form making this process a bit more automated, we invite you to fill it out and we'll contact your local departments and get them involved. The result is a win win, the department is able to communicate information to the citizens they represent at no cost and you benefit by having the information made available to you!

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PostaCrime.com Google Mapplet Released

It's official, we've released the PostaCrime.com mapplet for Google Maps. After following the steps below to add the PAC mapplet to your Google Maps, you can type in any zip code or address and see the crime results within the Google Map interface. You can also couple the PAC crime results with other useful mapplets like:

• Web Cams


• Real Estate (Check the neighborhood for crime before you buy)


• Gas Prices

Here's how to add the PostaCrime mapplet into your Google Maps account:

1. Log into your Google account.
2. Go to Google Maps and click on the My Maps tab.
3. Then click browse the directory.
4. Type in Crime in the search box and you'll see the PostaCrime.com mapplet.
5. Click on PostaCrime.com.
6. Click Add it to Maps.
7. You have now successfully added the PostaCrime mapplet to your Google maps. You can now search for crime by typing in an address or zip code and see the results on the left hand side and on the Google map.

If you type a zip code and nothing comes up, don't worry, we don't have information in our database yet for that location. In addition to you and our users uploading crime information, we're working with Police Departments to add their information to PostaCrime.com. If you want to help us please send a letter or email to your local police department and ask them to participate in PostaCrime.com!

Have fun with the mapplet!

Calling All Posters

We've received numerous questions about how to use our site to POST CRIME, so this BLOG entry will serve as a sort of primer to let people know the many ways they can post crime to our database.

First off, posting a crime is very easy and requires very little information to get started. You do not need to have a photo or video in order to post. Simply create an account and click on the "Post Crime" tab to get started.

Secondly, if you are concerned about not including your exact street address, you can simply enter the block instead of the actual address. For example, if your address is 141 Smith Street, you may enter 100 Smith Street.

What kind of crime can you post? Here are a couple of examples:

Your car was broken into last night and your stereo and IPOD were stolen. Take a photo of your car, maybe the include a photo of what was stolen if you have one, fill out the address, type of crime, and description of the crime (what time it occured, what was taken, if you saw a suspicious vehicle, etc.).
You have a photo/video of someone who stole something from your convenience store. If you have a photo or video of someone stealing something on your Digital Video Recorder (DVR), you will need to transfer it to your computer prior to uploading it to POSTACRIME. The process varies by DVR manufacturer, but most allow you to store the clip or photo to a memory card, CD, or DVD. You then transfer the media to your computer and click the browse button on the Post Crime and locate on your computer. You may add up to four photos or videos.

Other crimes you can easily post:
Vandalism to your property.
Construction material stolen from your job site.
Home or business burglary.
Vehicle theft (post photos of your stolen vehicle).

Your crime posting will be seen by thousands of viewers, most of them who live in or near your neighborhood. If just one of them has information about your crime, they can submit a tip to you or provide the information directly to the police. In all cases, we stronly encourage you to file a police report prior to posting information on POSTACRIME.