THE Vancouver Police Department has released a new online dashboard, intended to enhance community awareness of crime trends and to help prevent crime in Vancouver.
“Generally, Vancouver is a safe city. In our last quarter, our violent crime rate decreased, however the property crime rate increased,” says Sgt. Jason Robillard. “There are steps people can take to protect their property and personal safety, but it all starts with being aware about what is happening around you. This new online tool is a great place to start.”
The online tool, the GeoDASH Crime Statistics Hub, analyzes crime by neighbourhood to identify trends in an easy-to-understand, user-friendly visual format.
There are stats for 11 different crimes, including break-and-enter, mischief, and theft-of-vehicle. The information is displayed using a fuel gauge – if the needle dips into the red or green zones, the specific crime is either higher or lower than the previous year.
The fuel gauge allows users to easily see which type of crime is increasing or decreasing in their neighbourhood, so they can take steps to protect themselves and their property.
The new online tool is the next iteration of the GeoDASH crime map, which was launched by the VPD in 2015. The crime map is an online tool that plots crime in the city on a map in near real-time.