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Elgin puts more crime data online

Were you in Elgin last night and wondered why there were a bunch of squad cars in a certain area?

Now, you can pull up a website and find out why.

Just in time for National Night Out, the Elgin Police Department has launched an online program that helps residents and officers track crime in the city.

By visiting www.crimereports.com, a whole host of information is at your fingertips.

You can see what sex offenders live on your street and what they look like.

You can see how many people were pulled over on Randall Road Thursday night.

You can run your own crime statistics to see whether the number of dogs bites is on the rise.

You can also receive crime alerts about any area of town you wish and filter crimes to your liking.

Police will be holding very little back from the public.

"In the spirit of transparency, we're putting out everything we can," said Police Chief Jeffrey Swoboda, adding that the best defense against crime is an informed citizenry.

Police will, however, not list suicides or crimes against children.

Covert operations would appear once an arrest is made, Swoboda said.

Everything else that occurred within the last six months is fair game, Swoboda said.

And if you happen to see something, there's a link for every crime posted that lets you leave a tip with police.

The program works like this: you call police because your neighbors are making too much noise near Festival Park, for example. The call goes to the dispatch center and appears on a map.

The officer goes to the address and tells the dispatcher center he wrote a citation. That information is then forwarded to the department's records management system.

Elgin police edit that information and send it off a third party, which then uploads the information onto crimereports.com that shows the time, date, location, what the call was for and the officer's action, if any.

The website automatically updates twice a day.

Police, meanwhile will use the site as a tool to identify crime trends around the city and to assist with staffing needs.

For example, if there are a rash of burglaries on the south east side of the city, authorities will know they should send more officers there.

The program -- also used in Itasca, Roselle, Villa Park, Waukegan and Wauconda -- costs Elgin $1,788 annually, money Swoboda says is well spent.

"The price is worth is just for what we'll be doing with it for the police department," Swoboda said. "That the community now has access to it is a bonus."

Police will start promoting the free website next Tuesday during the various National Night Out celebrations being held in neighborhoods all over the city.

Crimealert.com will show where police calls and activities are occurring. Brian Hill | Staff Photographer