You, Too, Can Check Out Your Hood's Seedy Underbelly Online

Do you like that warm feeling you get knowing that random acts of crime-ness are being committed around you every moment of the day? Well, if so, you're in luck.  The latest addition to the city's amalgam of crime-mapping web sites, www.crimemapping.com, lets you type in an address, tinker with the zoom and the date range, and find out exactly what signs of urban malaise were reported to the police in the area of your choosing. Alternatively, you can sign up to get email alerts on the latest hijinks close to you. Cue the paranoia.

crimemapping.com

So many adorable crime icons, so little context...

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We checked out the SF Weekly's location here in SoMa, for example, and we learned that since last Friday, we've been sitting just blocks from a strong arm robbery and assault at the Caltrain Depot, and an act of vandalism at 4th and Bluxome -- all denoted with cute little icons: A red fist for assault, a magic purple needle for an intoxicated person, a carnival mask for a burglary. If only all crime was so whimsical. 

Perhaps it's just our ancient office computer, but we had glitches getting the dialogue boxes with the details of the crime to show from behind other frames on the site. Nevertheless, it's a nice tool to get a handle on the frequent crimes in your hood. Just don't blame us when you start to considering a move to Fairfield.

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