New transparency initiative increases public’s access to BART crime data

The BART Police Department is now sharing reports of Part 1 crimes with the website CrimeMapping.com.  The site will process the crime data with its advanced mapping engine to show where the crime has occurred within the BART system.  The service is free and available to everyone.

CrimeMapping.com is a component of the BART Police Department’s new Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system. Crime data from BART will be fed to CrimeMapping.com from our Records Management System.  This new technology will increase the efficiency, accuracy and transparency of our crime reporting.

Users can access the information by going to the CrimeMapping.com website and entering a station name in the search box.  The information about specific crimes at that station will be displayed on a map along with crimes that have occurred in the surrounding neighborhood if that local jurisdiction participates in the CrimeMapping system.  Users can look up the time and type of crime that occurred.  CrimeMapping.com stores the data for up to 180 days.  The site can also display the information in charts and graphs that can illustrate whether there has been a recent spike or decline in criminal activity.

“This new effort reflects my department’s commitment to transparency and community oriented policing,” said BART Police Chief Carlos Rojas.  “Now anyone with an Internet connection will be able to see our crime data.  These incidents will be displayed in the context of the various communities served by BART.”

Several large police departments in the Bay Area already provide their crime data to CrimeMapping.com.  That list includes departments in San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Hayward, Richmond and Berkeley.

BART data is now live and users can start searching BART stations at this link: https://www.crimemapping.com/map/CA/BART.