ELKHART COUNTY CRIME MAPPING INITIATIVE

Realizing that crime isn’t constrained by a municipality's borders, the Elkhart County Prosecutor’s Office coordinates with six local police departments and the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Department to provide an online, interactive crime map for residents of Elkhart County. Participating police departments include Bristol, Goshen, Middlebury, Millersburg, Nappanee and Wakarusa. Through this crime map, the Elkhart County Prosecutor’s Office provides a tool to encourage enhanced dialogue between public safety officers and the community on crime patterns or trends that cross jurisdictional boundaries. The online crime mapping program can be accessed at www.communitycrimemap.com.

The Prosecutor’s Office works with Bair Software to provide the service and make it easier for residents to keep track of crime reports in their area. The system also helps officers in all departments stay up-to-date about crime in their areas of interest. Bair offers the service at absolutely no cost to the county or the public as a way to give back to the community.

The crime mapping software receives daily crime data reports. Residents can view crime reports near their home, school, work or other area of interest. Citizens who use the program to become aware of crime trends can make more informed decisions regarding where they live, shop, play and send their kids to school, as well as make other important choices regarding their personal safety.

In addition to an incident map, crime mapping software allows citizens to sign up for daily or weekly email reports of recent crime activity. This allows members of the public to stay informed about crime simply by logging into their email account. A report will list each crime within a certain distance from the user’s address for the past day or week. A sign-up form on the crime mapping website makes it easy for residents to sign up for reports. Additionally, an iPhone app will allow some users to access the crime map on their mobile devices.

The program has partnered with Tip411 to allow users to provide anonymous tips to local law enforcement. Citizens who click on an incident point on the map can send a tip directly to the department about that event. These tips improve two-way communication between the department and the public, and they can strengthen a department’s investigation of a crime by ensuring that law enforcement has the most information available.

The Elkhart County Prosecutor’s Office recognizes that communication among public safety officials results in more thorough investigations and faster identification and resolution of repeat criminal activity. Offering a publicly available crime map is the first step toward pursuing a more systematic way to identify crime patterns and trends occurring throughout Elkhart County. By understanding and forecasting criminal activity, we can create a safer environment for members of the community to work and live.

Disclaimer Regarding Elkhart County Crime Mapping Online Data

Information mapped on LexisNexis® Community Crime Map belongs to and is voluntarily provided by local law enforcement agencies. Police departments and the sheriff’s department endeavor to ensure the accuracy of the data made available through LexisNexis® Community Crime Map and to comply fully with state and federal laws pertaining to the rights of both victims and suspects.

The participating departments will not release any personally identifiable information of those involved in crimes through LexisNexis® Community Crime Map. Additionally, it will be the policy of law enforcement participants in Elkhart County to randomly offset the mapped locations of all sex-based offenses by as much as 500 feet to further protect the identities of victims of these offenses. It will be the policy of local departments not to map "child in need of service" calls. Wakarusa PD will not be submitting data on sexual assault or sexual offense reports.

The user also should realize that these data may reflect the following:

• Information that may include technical or human error or both.
• Information that is not yet verified by additional investigation of the crime or incident.
• Date and time information reflects when the crime report was made, not necessarily when the incident occurred.
• Preliminary crime classifications and symbols that might be changed later, based on further investigation.
• Mapped points are estimates of the actual crime or incident location, based upon the mapping limitations of our data and records systems.
• Certain crimes, such as theft, may occur virtually. A crime report does not indicate with certainty that an incident has taken place at that location.

The Office of the Prosecuting Attorney of Elkhart County shall have no liability for data made available on this website, specifically including no liability for any:

• Omissions of data; or errors in data as presented to the public; and
• Use, misuse of, or any result obtained from the use or misuse of these data.

The use of data indicates the site user's unconditional acceptance of all risks associated with the use of data as provided through the LexisNexis® Community Crime Map service.