FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Many questions regarding CrimeMapping.com can be found below.

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Q: Where does CrimeMapping.com obtain the crime and sex offender data?

CrimeMapping.com, a CentralSquare Technologies application, is a public resource of general information. All data contained in this site has been gathered through legitimate means and with the knowledge and approval of the law enforcement agencies listed in CrimeMapping.com. The original information provided by each law enforcement agency is exclusively owned by that agency. All data has been extracted, processed and presented through appropriate channels. No information contained in this site has been garnered by data scraping or other such inappropriate means.

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Q: How can I get more detailed information about a crime?

As per the disclaimer on our Contact Page, CrimeMapping.com hosts crime data received from law enforcement agencies and is not responsible for the content on this site. Please contact the appropriate agency for detailed information regarding crime incidents.

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Q: How can I get data that is older than six (6) months?

CrimeMapping.com includes a rolling 180 days’ (6 months) worth of crime data for each agency. If you require more historical data or more detailed information regarding a specific incident, you should contact the public information officer at your local law enforcement agency.

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Q: What types of crimes are displayed?

Here is list of each symbol and its definition. Note that it is common for two agencies to have a similar definition for the same Crime Type, so in order to remain consistent for all the data we have (and reduce the amount of different Crime Types that we manage), we map our client's Crime Types to the following symbols:

Arson - Willful, malicious burning of a structure, vehicle, or personal property.


Assault - Attack on a person to commit injury. Aggravated assault usually includes a deadly weapon and simple assault does not. Domestic violence is not included.


Burglary - Unlawful entry of a structure to commit a theft or other felony.


Disturbing the Peace - Any behavior that tends to disturb the public peace.


Drugs / Alcohol Violations:

• Drug Abuse Violations - The violation of laws prohibiting the production, cultivation, manufacture, distribution, possession and/or use of certain controlled substances.
• Liquor Laws - The violation of laws prohibiting the manufacture, sale, purchase, transportation, possession, or use of alcoholic beverages, not including driving under the influence and drunkenness.

DUI - Driving or operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or narcotics.


Fraud - The intentional perversion of the truth for the purpose of inducing another person or other entity to part with something of value or to surrender a legal right.


Homicide - Unlawful killing of one person by another.


Motor Vehicle Theft - Theft of a car, truck, motorcycle, or any motor vehicle.


Robbery - Taking property from a person by force, threat of force, or fear.


Sex Crimes:

• Rape - The carnal knowledge of a person, without the consent of the victim, including instances where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of his/her age or because of his/her temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity.
• Prostitution - Engaging in or soliciting sexual activities for money or other compensation.
• Sex Offenses - Any sexual act directed against another person, without the consent of the victim, including instances where the victim is incapable of giving consent.

Theft / Larceny - Unlawful taking of property from another person. Embezzlement, forgery, check fraud, and theft from a vehicle are excluded.


Vandalism - Willful, malicious destruction, damage, or defacement of property.


Vehicle Break-In - Theft of articles from a vehicle.


Weapons - Violation of laws prohibiting the manufacture, sale, purchase, transportation, possession or use of deadly weapons.

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Q: How often is the crime data updated?

The data we post is gathered with the permission of each agency and is updated on the site once per day. The date range for crimes displayed represents the last one hundred and eighty (180) days of activity. This may vary somewhat between agencies depending upon their reporting process.

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Q: What types of sex offenders are displayed?

CrimeMapping.com provides two offender categories, sex offender and sexual predator. Agencies may define these categories differently from state to state. If your agency is providing offender data to CrimeMapping.com, you may find additional information about the specific offender designations within the Related Links section of the Agency Information panel. Alternatively, you may wish to contact the agency directly for a complete understanding of how sex offenders are defined.

Sex Offender


Sexual Predator

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Q: How are sex offenders depicted regarding 'predator' and 'high risk' or similar designation?

Sex offender designations and registration requirements vary from state to state. Crimemapping.com refers to the included individuals using the general term Sex Offender. Further designation that may exist within a state or local jurisdiction, and which may change over time, such as 'predator' or 'high risk sex offender' or 'sexually violent predator' may be included in that individual's description by the participating law enforcement agency (the source of the data). Please contact the participating agency for a complete understanding of how sex offenders are designated, and of the laws and guidelines that define how sex offender data may be shared with the public.

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Q: Is there a limit to the number of points that can be displayed?

Yes, in order to maximize speed and efficiency at CrimeMapping.com there is a limit to the number of points that may be displayed in the map. If the limit is reached, you can zoom to a smaller area, reduce the date range, or reduce the data types you are plotting on the map.

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Q: Is there a cost to use CrimeMapping.com?

It should be noted that our service is funded by your local law enforcement agency and is absolutely FREE for the general public!

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Q: Will an Android app be made available?

We understand the importance of having CrimeMapping.com on the Android platform. Our development team is currently working on this request. We are hoping it will be available soon, but we don’t have an official release date at this time.

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Q: How many departments do you serve?

We serve hundreds of law enforcement agencies with our desktop and Web based mapping applications. Our clients range from large police departments serving populations in excess of 1 million such as San Diego to smaller agencies such as Catasauqua, Pennsylvania which serves less than 10,000 residents. Because CrimeMapping.com is so cost effective any sized agency can afford the service.

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Q: Where can I find information about the agency in my area?

Information on your local agency can be found in the "Agency Information Panel." This panel appears on the right side of the map and provides links to related websites and a Sex Offender Disclaimer for agencies that choose to provide offender data. To view the Agency Information Panel, either (1) by clicking on the "Shield" icon on the top right above the map, (2) by clicking on the agency name when displayed in any "Incident Details" panel while learning more about a particular incident, or (3) click on any agency's "Shield" icon that is displayed on the map.

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Q: What sets your service apart from others?

We take pride in working with law enforcement agencies throughout North America since 1992. We never post data without the expressed permission of each agency and our information is always validated through direct collaboration with police personnel. We also never scrape data from other sites as this would reduce the integrity of our content.

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Q: I know my local agency subscribes to CrimeMapping.com, so why is it not displaying current crime data?

Occasionally agencies experience technical difficulties and this can interrupt their environment’s ability to load recent data to our site. We assure you that we are aware of any situation and that we are working closely with any agency to get their data onto the site.

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Q: I do not see my local agency on CrimeMapping.com, why is that?

If you do not see your local agency on CrimeMapping.com then they do not yet subscribe to our services. We would love to serve your community and would urge you to contact the public information officer at your local law enforcement agency to let them know about CrimeMapping.com.

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Q: My local agency does not appear to provide sex offender data, why is that?

Sex offender data that is displayed in CrimeMapping.com must be supplied to us from your local agency. If you would like to see this type of information available for your area, we would urge you to contact the public information officer at your local law enforcement agency to let them know that it is possible bring sex offender data into CrimeMapping.com.

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Q: A crime occurred in my neighborhood but it is not displayed on the map.

CrimeMapping.com is an overview of designated crimes within a particular law enforcement agency. The content on CrimeMapping.com is a representation of crime and is not all-inclusive. Each agency has the choice to customize their content from the crime types and crime codes they have displayed on CrimeMapping.com.

Each incident has to be entered as a report or call for service by the law enforcement agency before it can be uploaded to our website. For some incidents it may take some time for this process to be completed so it would not immediately appear on the website.

It could also be possible that the crimes in question were not reported to the police or were responded to by another agency (Sheriff’s Dept. or state police) that does not subscribe to our website.

Some agencies also request that we do not display sensitive crimes such as sexual assault or crimes involving children in order to protect the privacy of the victims, so that information may not be available for your area. Other miscellaneous crimes that do not fall into any discernible category can also be filtered out at the agency’s request.

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Q: I have noticed that a street / location is incorrect on the CrimeMapping.com map.

As per our disclaimer on our Contact Page, CrimeMapping.com is the host of crime data received from law enforcement agencies and is not responsible for the content on this site. Our display map is provided by a third party vendor, ESRI. Please contact ESRI support in regards to making changes and/or updates to the existing display map.

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Q: Is the time that is displayed in correlation to a particular incident the time in which the crime occurred or the time the incident was reported?

Each agency that subscribes to our services can choose to display the occurred time, the reported time, or the average time alongside each incident. Whichever setting that they have chosen is not publicly provided. For more information about a particular incident, please contact your local agency for more information.

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Q: What do I do if the map doesn't come up?

Occasionally your browser will cache the application's resources (pages, scripts, images, etc.) and will not replace them with a current version when the application is updated. This issue might affect the main mapping interface and/or the report pages. If this occurs you need to force your browser to refresh its cache and retrieve the latest resources. This can be done by visiting any page and pressing the F5 key. Alternatively you can also press Shift + R, Control + R, or Command + R for the same effect.

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Q: Why are not all of the crime types displayed in the charts?

The "Charts" are a direct representation of the "Detailed Report" that was generated from the map. Only crimes that are currently included on the map are shown in the "Detailed Report and Charts" In order to show a wider range of crime types, zoom out within the map to provide a greater amount of data, then go back to the “Detailed Reports and Charts" page to refresh the data displayed.

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Q: I am a college student and could use historical data for my project, can you provide data past the six (6) months?

All data is owned and maintained by the agencies subscribe to our site. Information displayed is stored on our encrypted hosting servers and is not available to the public. If you require information on incidents older than what is provided, please contact your local agency on how to obtain the data.

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Q: What browser(s) does CrimeMapping.com support?

CrimeMapping.com supports most modern browser versions including, IE, FireFox, Chrome, Safari and Edge.

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Q: What are the benefits of CrimeMapping.com Email alerts?

Public awareness of crime in an area is an effective tool in fostering safe communities. Email alerts provide you with the ability to quickly understand the activity in your neighborhood and take preventative measures. For example, being alerted to a recent burglary or theft from a vehicle on CrimeMapping.com may remind you to be more vigilant about locking doors and otherwise securing property.

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Q: Why have I not received any new alert emails recently?

Occasionally agencies experience technical issues that may prevent them from loading new data onto the site. We work closely with all agencies to resolve these issues as soon as possible. When an issue is resolved, you will start receiving alert emails. Please remember that you will only receive new crime alerts if new incidents have occurred in your area. You will only receive new sex offender alert if a new offender has moved into your area, or an existing offender has moved out.

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Q: I signed up for alerts and have not received any emails.

Did you receive the initial email welcoming you to Crimemapping.com? If so, there is a Confirm My Alert link in the email that you need to click on in order to confirm your Crime or Sex Offender Alert. Once you do this you will receive a second email confirming that your subscription has been saved. If you did not receive the Welcome Email or you followed these steps and still have not received alerts; create the alert again and confirm that you have submitted your correct email information. Also check to make sure that emails from do-not-reply@crimemapping.com are not being sent to your junk mail or being blocked by your email service. You will only receive a new alert email when new incidents have been reported in your area.

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Q: Can I create multiple alerts with the same email address?

Yes, you can create several different Crime or Sex Offender Alerts using the same email address. Many people create different alerts using postal addresses for their home, work or child’s school. You can also create alerts using different crime categories or search distances.

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Q: How do I update email alerts I have already created?

In order to update email alerts that you have already created, you need to unsubscribe from the alert you wish to update, and recreate it within CrimeMapping.com. You can unsubscribe from an alert by locating the last alert you received in your email, and clicking on the Unsubscribe link located at the bottom of the email. You will receive an email confirming that your subscription for this alert email has been removed.

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Q: How do I unsubscribe from the email alerts?

You can unsubscribe from an alert by clicking on the Unsubscribe link located at the bottom of your alert email. You will receive an email confirming that this alert has been removed.

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Q: Why did I get unsubscribed when I didn't want to?

Clicking the Unsubscribe link in your alert email is the only way in which to cancel the alert. If you forward your emails to friends, they may be inadvertently unsubscribing you. We recommend removing the Unsubscribe link from your email before forwarding alert emails.

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Q: If I register for Alerts is my privacy protected?

Yes, your email address and registration information will only be used for the alerts. We do not share your contact information with any third parties. You can also unsubscribe at any time.

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Q: Why can't I create a sex offender email alert for my neighborhood?

If you attempt to create a sex offender alert, and receive a message that '..we don't have sex offender data for this location', it means that the agency with jurisdiction in your area of interest is not providing sex offender data to CrimeMapping.com. We encourage you to contact your local law enforcement agency to discuss whether they might be able to begin supplying this data to CrimeMapping.com.

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