Frequently Asked Questions

Community Crime Map compiles data and other information from law enforcement agencies to make it easier for the public to stay informed about crime. Data in Community Crime Map is provided directly by each law enforcement agency, and we take every step to ensure that the data is of the highest quality and accuracy. To uphold these quality standards, LexisNexis works with each agency to set up an automated feed of the data from their crime database into the Community Crime Map database. Receiving the data directly from each law enforcement agency ensures that the data is always up to date, accurate and complete.

You can view the source of the crime data for any record by clicking on the event on the map. The information window lists the “Agency” that provided the information. Selecting the Coverage icon in the product header also lists the source and links to each source’s web page for the records that are currently in view.

Law enforcement agencies keep detailed records about each incident that occurs in their jurisdiction. When an incident happens, the officer that responded to the incident writes a detailed report with information about the event including the location, people involved, related vehicles and other useful information. This information is stored in large secure databases within each law enforcement agency, which can make it difficult for two neighboring cities to share crime data and benefit from being able to analyze events and offenders that cross city boundaries. Community Crime Map helps centralize and standardize this information into a national database of crime to improve regional data sharing analysis.

We take the data, clean it to protect victim privacy, and display it to the public so citizens can be aware of the events that occur in their area and take action to stay safe.