West St. Catherine Neighborhood Association

Mayor Abramson & Cheif White Unveil MetroWatch

Aug 03, 2007

Metro Newsroom
Mayor Abramson and Chief White Unveil MetroWatch
Thursday August 2, 2007

For Immediate Release

Contacts:
Alicia Smiley 502-574-7761
Phil Russell 502-574-7665
Allison Martin 502-574-1909

Mayor Jerry Abramson and Louisville Metro Police Chief Robert White today unveiled MetroWatch, the city's new interactive initiative that literally puts crime fighting at the tips of the residents' fingers. The online crime mapping tool, which is part of the Keep Louisville Safe program, allows citizens to log on to a computer and learn what crimes have occurred in their neighborhoods during the past 30 days.

"We want residents to know what's going on in their neighborhoods so they can help us solve and prevent crimes," Abramson said. "Our residents are the eyes and ears of our department and if they have information about what's going on in their community they can be on the lookout for suspicious activity."

MetroWatch can be found by logging on to www.louisvilleky.gov/metropolice. By typing in a single address or an intersection, citizens can search crimes in the area. Those crimes include: assaults, auto thefts, burglaries, homicides, robberies, thefts, thefts from vehicles and vandalism. Users may also access the exact location where the crime occurred and find out how many incidents were reported to the police. A Crime Tips link will let the user report information directly to the police. The crime mapping tool can only search incidents occurring in Louisville Metro and does not include crimes occurring in smaller cities such as St. Matthews or Shively. Sex crimes and domestic incidents are also excluded from the search feature so victims of those crimes cannot be identified.

MetroWatch arrives just in time for National Night Out, the annual event in communities across the country that promotes Neighborhood Watch and other police-community partnerships. Since 2003, the LMPD has formed 230 new block watch programs. Residents are invited to attend various events on August 7, 2007 sponsored by each of the city's eight police divisions. Refreshments will be served and participants can receive information on ways to safeguard their family and property. Division Resource officers will give residents who attend information about the crime mapping tool.

"Residents everywhere need to be aware of criminal activity in their neighborhoods so they can be proactive about their own protection," said White. "With MetroWatch, it isn't just the police who are watching criminals, but our citizens who can also see them. By keeping a watch on crime, our citizens will be able to help us fight crime," said White.

MetroWatch was developed with the assistance of the Louisville / Jefferson County Information Consortium (LOJIC). LOJIC represents a multi-agency effort to build and maintain a comprehensive Geographic Information System (GIS) serving all of Louisville Metro.


Keep Louisville Safe was introduced to the public in May when Abramson and White alerted the public about the problem and prevention of elder abuse. Nearly 200 people attended the Meth 101 Workshop that the Mayor and Chief hosted in June. Last month, Abramson and White launched a public awareness and education campaign to prevent auto thefts in Louisville.

Other topics to be addressed throughout the year by Keep Louisville Safe include:

Protecting Children from Internet Predators
Domestic Violence Prevention
Identity Theft
The Proper Use of 9-1-1