regina police service launches new interactive online crime map
police chief evan bray said the aim of the map is to increase transparency around crime in the city to better inform people on what is happening in the community.
3 minute read
a screenshot of the new crime map published by the regina police service on october 25, 2022.
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police chief evan bray said the aim of the map is to increase transparency around crime in the city to better inform people on what is happening in the community.
“the public will have the ability to go on and understand the crimes, the types of crimes that are happening in their neighbourhood,” he said at a board of police commissioners meeting tuesday.
according to the rps, there is a considerable volume of calls to the police regarding crime numbers in any given neighbourhood. the new resource allows for up to 90 days of past crimes to be displayed.
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bray said the rps has been publishing a crime map for some time but it has only been able to show “the intensity of a certain crime in an area, it doesn’t tell you any specifics.”
this map shows the approximate area where a crime has occurred. it can be filtered by the type of crime, the ward or subdivision it occurred in, as well as the timeframe — the past 14, 30, 60 or 90 days.
during tuesday’s meeting, police commissioner katelyn duncan asked if the tool would be able to facilitate any degree of crime prevention.
“the time where i think i could see myself using this would be, say, after my car was broken into,” duncan said.
amy balfour, manager of strategic services for the rps, said added awareness of what is happening in a neighbourhood could influence behaviour.
“the public has been asking for this for, i would say about two years and so people do want to know what’s happening in their neighbourhood,” said balfour, who added that oftentimes people are shocked by the crimes that have occurred in and around their community.
speaking from her own experience balfour mentioned that there is a frequent reminder from the rps every winter to not leave your car running with keys in the ignition.
regina police services chief evan bray speaks during a press conference.
kayle neis
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regina leader-post
speaking about her husband, she said “he left his keys in his car, his car was rifled through the other day. and so i said, well, it’s happening a lot in our neighbourhood,” said balfour. “he said had he known that he wouldn’t have done it.”
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bray noted there are some crimes, like sexual assaults and homicides, that are not posted on the map in order to maintain privacy.
duncan also asked about the “implications of reporting a crime in specific areas.”
“is there some part of it that is somehow re-traumatizing certain populations?” she asked.
bray said it’s a balancing act between showing what is happening in the city while keeping certain crimes off the map.
mayor sandra masters said she was not concerned about the potential stigma that the map might bring forward for neighbourhoods that see particularly high rates of crime.
“i think they’ve been completely aware of the situation. i think that if you were to go talk to the residents there, that they’re looking for help, they’re looking for people to pay attention,” she said.
“if this is part of what helps that, then i think it’s a good thing.”
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