Howdy y’all! Need a new rabbit hole to get lost in? Well you’re in luck as today I’ll cover two websites that satisfy that craving!
Crime committing cops.
Just like the rest of us, law enforcement officials are not above the law (exceptions apply to billionaires and those in the White House). There are often news articles covering the latest in police killings of unarmed people of colour, but what about the less glamorous but also deadly DUIs? Or embezzlement? How about cops destroying evidence? All of these crimes and more can be searched by the public (you!) using the Henry A. Wallace Police Crime Database. This database catalogues law enforcement officials who have been convicted of crimes. You can search by offense and sort by location, date, or agency for crimes from the years 2005 to 2014. While this isn’t the most up to date database, it’s fascinating to look up your city and see what local law enforcement has been up that you might not have heard of. A lot of DUIs out there…
Crime graphs.
Another great website to get lost in is the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer. This vast database of crimes (available for download if that’s of interest to you) is part of the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program that allows agencies from all over the United States to voluntarily share their crime statistics.
With great visuals of data from 1985 to 2018 on violent as well as property crimes, CDE is perfect to compare states’ crime levels vs. the country as a whole. Unlike the first crime database, the CDE has much more detailed homicide and property crime statistics. Want to know the age breakdown of homicide offenders? Or perhaps the most common murder weapon? Maybe the circumstances at the time of the homicide? All of these questions and more can be answered using the visually appealing CDE.
You can also pick local law enforcement agencies and see their number of reported crimes and clearance rates. Turns out my hometown has a higher clearance rate for burglary than motor vehicle theft! Check yours!
Emma xoxo
References
[1] Crime Data Explorer. 2020. [online] Available at: <https://crime-data-explorer.fr.cloud.gov/explorer/state/california/shr>.
Quite the Detectives... 