How's this for mind-blowing? The City of Philadelphia will debut a real-time crime mapping tool in November, reports Technically Philly. The map will pull together data from all sorts of areas — 9-1-1 calls, surveillance video, SEPTA transit, etc. — and be made available to a whole slew of agencies, including Philadelphia Police Department, Amtrak, SEPTA, PennDOT, the Coast Guard and more. So, unless you work for one of those entities in some fashion, you probably won't be seeing this puppy. If you do, thank you for keeping us safe!
Technically makes no mention as to whether this map will pull from the feeds of cameras registered with Philly Police Department's SafeCam program, which has proven successful. SafeCam allows for businesses and residents to register their surveillence cameras with the police, and in some cases pays small business owners to upgrade to or purchase new cameras.
As for the map, it was funded by an $800,000 grant from the Delaware River Port Authority. You know, the agency that just funded a study to find out if Franklin Station can be a viable train station. It's meant to serve as an "internal tool" for the Delaware Valley Intelligence Center, a $20M centralized crime-fighting hub that debuted in July 2013.
· Philadelphia just built a crime mapping tool for the entire region [Technically Philly]