CRIME REPORTS
--krimelabb gets police reports from Austin Police Department (APD) Crime Incidence Report on a daily basis.
--The krimelabb system data starts January 1, 2007.
--It typically takes about 2 days for a report to show up in the krimelabb system depending on how soon APD releases the data.
--Not all crimes are reported.
--Some crimes are reported days or weeks after they occur.
--Police reports are often taken in the heat of the moment and it may be challenging to accurately capture all the data.
--Report records may contain more than one crime so a given report ID (e.g. 2008-1234567) may have multiple crimes attached to it.
--APD does not always release info on crimes (e.g. where there is a pending investigation).
--APD will withhold information on a crime that involves an arrestee who is a minor.
--Use the APD Case # to cross reference information in krimelabb with APD. Many of the results in krimelabb were compiled by krimelabb NOT APD. Therefore, any correspondents with APD will rely on using their case #. In some cases, APD will truncate the number by removing the "20" at the beginning.
OFFENSES
--Currently, definitions of the offenses are not available.
--The offense classification system is very specific and dispatchers or officers must use their best judgment in classifying an offense.
ADDRESSES
--Sometimes APD uses a generic address e.g. 1200 Elm (or 12 Block Elm) instead of 1212 Elm in order to maintain victim confidentiality.
--Some zip codes that straddle the city limits will only have crimes that are reported to APD and within the city limits.
GOOGLE MAPS
--Google Maps API can be resource intensive and so it may take a little time to display the maps.
--The map display time will be in relation to the size of the result set so larger results sets will take some time.
--The center point is calculated based on an average of all lattitudes/longitudes for addresses in the result set. If there is an address with an incorrect latitude/longitude value the map may not be centered and consequently there may not be any pushpins displaying. Try zooming out on the map (by moving the slider on the left toward the '-').
--Clicking a pushpin causes a flyover hint with details to display.
--To view the map, Javascript must be enabled. If it is not enabled you will get an error message. To enable Javascript refer to...
http://www.arborday.org/GeneralInfo/enable-jscript.cfm
--If multiple crimes occur at one address the pushpins may be stacked on top of each other so you only see the top pushpin.
--Some crimes don't show up on the map because the address used in the APD report may not be understood by Google Maps API. (I am handling quite a bit of this but some are still falling thru the cracks).
GOOGLE STREETVIEW
--Streetview may not work in all browsers. Also, your browser must be configured to use Flash 10.
--Not all addresses are in the Google Streetview system.
--Streetview photos may not be current.
--Streetview may not be oriented in the right direction (NESW).
DATABASE
--The database response will be in relation to the size of the result set. So a result set that contains 2000 records will take longer to render than a result set of 10 records. The query will timeout (terminate) at about 30 seconds.
--Make sure to use the correct date format for filtering.
FORMAT: yyyy-mm-dd. For months and days use lead zeros to make the entry two digits.
E.g. 2008-04-05 for April 5, 2008.
Please use this information responsibly and in compliance with APD's requirements.