West Richland Crime Map now online

“We don’t have much crime” is always one of the first things I say to people who ask what I love about West Richland and why we’ve decided to settle here. And I’ve seen some reports (and blogged about them) that tell how low West Richland’s crime rate is.

Now, the West Richland Police Dept. has launched an online map that shows crimes that have happened within the city limits.

That’s a screenshot of incidents between November 1st and November 30th. (You can click for a larger version.) You’ll notice that I’ve unchecked the “PUBLIC” category from the left column and you should probably uncheck some other categories, too, to get a real snapshot of actual crimes. (The “ALARM” category, for example, shows police responses to false alarms, which don’t count as actual crimes.) You can move your mouse over any of the lettered incidents to learn more about what happened.

According to this KEPR-TV story, Police chief Layne Erdman says the online crime map isn’t costing the city any more money.

You can reach the West Richland Crime Map online at this URL:

http://map.citizenserviceportal.com/default.aspx?agency=wrpd

Note that it may not work with all browsers and you may have to download Microsoft’s Silverlight software.

File Police Reports Online

Also new is an online tool for sending reports and information to the West Richland police department. Obviously you don’t use this for emergencies, but if you want to report things like traffic problems/violations, theft, or malicious mischief, you can use this URL:

http://report.citizenserviceportal.com/Report.aspx?agency=wrpd

I have a feeling this may be both helpful for the PD in that they’ll get more information and reports from the public, from people who may not have otherwise called or visited the station … but it also may create a lot of nuisance/busy work for the department. We’ll see.

In any case, I think these are very cool developments. Hats off to the West Richland PD.

Thank you for reading this article on the West Richland Real Estate Blog. If you arrived here looking for specific real estate information, or would like to speak with a friendly, fun, professional, and low-pressure real estate agent, please contact Cari via her web site or call her directly at 509 – 430 – 5342 and she’ll be glad to help. Thanks again for visiting!