Crime wave at your doorstep?

New York has crime. It has dropped precipitously since a couple decades back, but I have seen a couple scuffles a robbery, and a few high-speed car chases with my own eyes. I have seen cops using faux taxi cabs to head-off the suspects they were pursuing, 2 officers running out with guns drawn and literally jumping onto the hood, aiming through the windshield while yelling threats.

Like this one:

So, it is too bad that these typical mash-up portals log fewer than a couple hundred incidents:

SpotCrime
Gothamist
and even something from The New York Times

Perhaps instead of advertising “If you see something, say something” and then congratulating themselves on “1,944 people said something” — a statistic with little consequence, it turns out — perhaps the NYPD should encourage more digital participation.

Ironically, hundreds upon hundreds of people no doubt sent pictures from their camera phones/ BlackBerry phones when the 41st street manhole cover blew its stack (My friend included. He went so far as to voluntarily send 2 videos and 9 photos.)

One Response to “Crime wave at your doorstep?”

  1. spike says:

    Now, if only blogs and other digital fingerprints of people’s psyche could be scanned and verified to create danger zone maps a la some sci-fi movie.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080612/ap_on_re_as/the_unheard_cry