Crime maps
2008-07-30Okay, I just went through the last month of violent crime reports from the Peoria Journal-Star and put them on Google Maps.
And, as mentioned before, here are the murders for the year:
And, as a bonus, here are those two maps overlaid!
If I’m feeling particularly ambitious, I may do the non-violent thefts on a separate map. If you’re interested in helping put in the older stories, let me know, and I’ll get you set up.
No, I’m not doing drug crimes (e.g. possession and dealing). First, I’m opposed to drug prohibition, so I don’t really feel like putting the effort into reporting it. Second, it’s hard to tie a drug crime to a particular place, at least from the sorts of reports that I currently have access to. Third, the point of these maps is to try to chart some sense of the danger that crime presents to people in various areas of the city. Possession and dealing simply don’t present a threat of bodily harm to those nearby.
Actually, that leads into a good point about these crimes. “Random crime” often isn’t. If you look into the news stories, you’ll see that many of these crimes were perpetrated on victims known to the perpetrator. Even in crime, it seems that it’s all about who you know.
[...] Seth Ben-Ezra has been maintaining a Google map listing the locations of violent crime and murder in Peoria. Keep up the good work. It’s citizen journalism in action. Many will disagree with his [...]
Don’t tell Doctor Knight but there’s an 800lb gorilla in that map.
*looks innocent*
Where?
Also, while I’m thinking about it, here’s my burglary map.
Well, at least you’re a brazen and unabashed racist, Vonster … despite being an anonymous coward.
And here I thought that everyone was talking about….
Well, something else.
Folks, Seth is talking about the family planning clinic on North University, which he considers the site of multiple murders. Your opinion of abortion may differ. I am of mixed opinion on the matter.
Vonster seems to take delight in assuming that all crime and murder is caused by black people. For what purpose I cannot say. The most sensational murder of the year in Peoria, however, was white on white. And a couple years ago, we had a white serial killer whose victims were exclusively white. Vonster can conclude anything he wants from that. I’ll point out that the greatest mass murders of the 20th Century were white European males.
And if that makes me a liberal apologist in Vonster’s eyes, so be it.
Billy is correct on all counts. Actually, my original point in starting to map out these murders was to show that most of them occur north of War Memorial, not south of it, as you might think.
I figure that I’ll keep doing this for a while. (”A while”=”while I consider it to be useful/interesting enough to be worth my time.”) So, we’ll see if any patterns emerge.
1. Though I’ve never been to Peoria, even I was able to figure out the reference to the abortion clinic.
2. I’m curious, Seth - why are you opposed to drug “prohibition”?
Barb,
That probably deserves a separate post, although if you check out the comments on this post, you’ll probably get the gist of it.