JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office is providing a new online crime mapping tool for residents to track crime in their neighborhoods and use it as a way to be proactive in staying safe.
"If you happen to know that your neighborhood is being victimized with auto burglaries, then maybe you'll think twice about leaving your laptop in your car," said Joe Ryan, a crime analysis administrator for JSO.
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Ryan explained how to use the website.
"It's simply one, two, three -- select crimes, select location and select date," he said.
Users must start off with a general neighborhood search.
"So those are the crimes that occurred in the Arlington neighborhood in the last 30 days," Ryan said as he demonstrated how to use the site.
Of those crimes in Arlington, there were several business burglaries. When clicking on each icon, a few more details about each crime become available.
"In this case, it was a gas station," Ryan said of one of the crimes.
Users can filter their search by crime. A search for homicide in Duval County shows that over the past 30 days, homicides were concentrated in Northwest Jacksonville.
In Argyle Forest, there have been several break-ins at businesses, a search shows.
Searches are available for the city's neighborhoods, landmarks and malls.
Ryan said it's a good idea to enter the places someone frequents regularly, such as the neighborhood surrounding children's schools, where people live and where they work.
To sign up for crime alert emails, click the CyberWatch tab at the top of the page, enter your email address and the location you want to monitor.
While most crimes are mapped on the Internet system, not all are. Crimes in which a victim's identity must be protected, such as sex crimes and child abuse cases, cannot be included.
To view the online crime mapping tool, click here. The tool works best when using an Internet Explorer browser.