Campbell Crime Gets Digital

Campbell residents will be able to track crime in their neighborhoods from their computers.

The city of Campbell has signed up for a free, one-year trial with crimereports.com.

"We’ve been trying to find ways to allow our communities to be more aware of what crimes are happening in our neighborhoods," says Campbell Mayor Jason Baker. "Neighbors are our first line of defense. Keeping them informed is in everyone’s best interest."

The website provides a map of an area, be it the city as a whole or actual neighborhoods, with markers that can be customized to show what type of crimes are happening where. The information is put together by reports done by both Campbell and San Jose police.

"It shows what’s your actual neighborhood," Baker said at Monday's City Council meeting when the trial was announced. "We know crime doesn’t stop at our borders."

Although the initial first year is free, it will cost the city $1,200 a year beginning in 2012, said Campbell spokesman Al Bito.

"It's a relatively small amount of money, because we are a relatively small city, but in budget times, every dollar counts," Baker said. "The council will have to make a decision on whether to allocate funds in the budget next year, and I hope it does. It’s a good resource for community to be aware."

The site is free to the community, but in order to customize an area and types of crimes or to set up alerts, residents have to sign up with crimereports.com.