| | Published January 16th, 2013
| Easy Access to Crime Information for Lamorinda
| | By Cathy Tyson |  | |
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Who wouldn't want to know about crime in their neighborhood, especially if it's easy and free? CrimeReports.com allows users to input an address and a map pops up that displays all the crime in the immediate area, broken down by date, time and type. With the click of a mouse, it's easy to zoom in and out, to see crimes in Walnut Creek or Oakland.
When compared to Oakland, Lamorinda residents clearly have safer communities. When searching Lafayette, be sure to include California, lest that other Lafayette in Louisiana pops up. Moraga doesn't subscribe to this service, but oddly enough there was an error that placed several registered sex offenders, who have actual addresses in San Jose, in town.
Color coded boxes indicate if it's a "T" for theft or "A" for assault or other logical abbreviation. Additional customization such as selecting a range of dates from three to seven to 30 days can be selected or narrowing down a search to incident layers, perhaps if someone only wanted to check out thefts from a vehicle can be chosen.
The company bills itself as the only near real-time source for both crime data and sex offender information. Because they contract with the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office, both Lafayette and Orinda crimes are posted on this website. Lafayette Police Chief Eric Christensen explains that CrimeReports.com is a private company that they subscribe to. "We feed the data that relates to Lafayette through the Sheriff's Office to the service provider." Information from over 700 participating law enforcement agencies maps out the crime scene for all 50 states using cloud-based software.
For the past year, Moraga police have chosen Nixle for emergency messaging. Nixle uses phones and e-mail to deliver information to residents who have signed up for the free service. The idea started with a major road closure that led to a substantial traffic back-up. Moraga Chief Robert Priebe called it "a cost-effective solution" when it was introduced; there's no charge to the police department for the service. Nixle sends those that register notices on road closures, law enforcement activity, and emergency alerts. With a year of Nixle behind them, Priebe said, "We are very happy with it and have received several positive comments and appreciation
To sign up for Nixle, go to www.nixle.com or simply send a text message to 888777, and enter the appropriate information.
CrimeReports.com requires no sign up to look up addresses, however members can sign up to receive crime alerts if requested. There's also a free iPhone application.from the community."
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA