CrimePing

LiveA crime map of police reports near you

What’s been reported around your block.

CrimePing is a free iPhone app that maps police-reported crime in Buffalo, Chicago, New York City and San Francisco using official city open data. No account. No ads.

Coming soon toiPhone

How it works

Sample screens. The reports shown are illustrative.

In the app

One radius. Four ways to read it.

Set a radius from a quarter mile to five miles and a time range from the past 24 hours to the past year. Every tab works from the same circle.

Map

Your radius is a dashed circle on a dark map, and every report inside it is a pin colored by category. The newest one sits in a card at the foot of the screen, with the street and how far it is from you.

24H · 7D · 30D · 90D · 1Y

Recent

The same reports as a list: what was reported, on which street, how long ago and how far away. Group it by day or sort it by distance, and tap a row for the full report.

Type · street · time · distance

Trends

Totals for your circle against the previous period, a breakdown by category, twelve months of history and the offenses reported most often.

This period against the last

Alerts

Save watch zones such as Home and Work. When iOS allows, your phone checks the city’s data in the background and shows a notification when it finds a new report in one of them.

Home · Work · any place you save

Crime maps by city

4Cities
on official
open data

Reports come from the Buffalo Police Department, the Chicago Police Department, the NYPD and the San Francisco Police Department through each city’s open-data program. Each city publishes on its own schedule, so what you see is as current as the city’s last update.

  • Buffalo crime map

    Updated daily

    Buffalo Police Department reports from the City of Buffalo’s open data. Locations are rounded for privacy.

  • Chicago crime map

    Daily, about 7 days behind

    Chicago Police Department reports from the City of Chicago’s open data. Addresses are given at block level.

  • New York City crime map

    Published quarterly

    NYPD complaints from the City of New York’s open data. Year-to-date, so the latest weeks can be empty until the next release.

  • San Francisco crime map

    Updated daily

    San Francisco Police Department reports from the city’s open data. Locations are snapped to the nearest intersection.

Sources

Where the data comes from.

Every report in CrimePing is published by a city police department through the city’s open-data program. Your phone requests the reports directly. CrimePing doesn’t write, edit or add to them.

Reports are preliminary. Police can reclassify, correct or remove a report after it’s published, and the app shows the current version each time it loads.

Locations are approximate on purpose. Buffalo rounds them for privacy, Chicago publishes block-level addresses and San Francisco snaps them to the nearest intersection. A pin marks an area, not a particular home.

Each city labels offenses its own way. CrimePing sorts those labels into six categories, so a robbery reads the same in every city.

  • Violent
  • Property
  • Vehicle
  • Fraud
  • Drugs
  • Other

Read how CrimePing works: sources, categories and corrections

Why it exists

Facts, not rumors.

CrimePing started as an app for one grandmother who was frightened by crime: the kind of fear that grows from rumors, scanner chatter and scary headlines. Her grandson wanted to show her what police actually reported, where and when, in a calm app with big, clear type she could read.

It’s made in Buffalo, New York by Octavian Ideas.

Read the story behind CrimePing

Questions

Common questions.

Is CrimePing free?

Yes. CrimePing is free, with no account to create and no ads. It’s coming soon to iPhone and isn’t on the App Store yet.

Which cities does it cover?

Buffalo, Chicago, New York City and San Francisco. Each publishes its police reports as open data with locations, which is what CrimePing reads.

How current is the data?

As current as each city’s last update. Buffalo and San Francisco update daily. Chicago updates daily but runs about seven days behind. New York City publishes year-to-date complaints once a quarter, so the latest weeks can be empty until the next release.

How do alerts work?

Save a watch zone, such as Home or Work, and allow notifications. When iOS gives the app time in the background, your phone checks the city’s data for new reports in your zones and shows a notification if it finds one. iOS decides when those checks run, so alerts can trail the city’s data. They are not for emergencies.

Does CrimePing track me?

No. There’s no account, no analytics and no advertising. Your location is used only while you’re using the app, to center the search. The search point and radius go from your phone straight to the city’s open data, and your watch zones stay on your phone. The privacy policy has the details.

Why don’t I see my city?

CrimePing can only show cities that publish individual police reports, with locations, as open data it can read. Today that’s four. If you’re somewhere else, or location is off, the app opens on Buffalo and lets you switch to any covered city.