System to let you track crime in real time

By Lomi Kriel
Concerned about what's happening in your neighborhood or just curious about its dark underbelly?
Thanks to the Pearland Police Department, finding out the latest soon will be easy and even instant.
A new program, Police-2-Citizen, will include a search function and provide crime information in "virtually a real-time format," said police spokesman Lt. Onesimo Lopez. The system should be up and running within a couple of weeks.
There will be a link to the site from the main page of the department's Web site.
One aspect of the system, he said, is "it uses Google maps to let you know where the crimes are occurring."
Users will be able to look up crime incidents by district, by location and surrounding area or by date and location.
Previously, the department offered a crime-tracking program that provides data for the past six months of crime calls. In early August, the department switched to a new report-management system not compatible with that software, and that tracking system is no longer operational.
Lopez said the city's new system will be similar to those used by League City, Dickinson and Galveston County. To get an idea of how it will work, look at this link to Galveston County Sheriff's Office's system.
Beyond what will be available on the new system, information on specific calls and crimes can be retrieved by filing an open-records request through the city secretary's office. That office is on the second floor of City Hall in Suite 262, or you can call 281-652-1653.
Here is a link to an open records request form.