Nobody has really asked any questions about HenricoCrime.org yet. These are some of the questions that I think people would ask, if they asked. I'll even throw in the answers for free.

What is HenricoCrime.org?

The main reason for HenricoCrime.org's existence is to show incidents involving the Henrico County police, in any given day, on a map. The information is publicly available from the police department, but it's easier to understand what's going on around you if you can visualize it. In my humble opinion, that is.

The secondary purpose of this website is to provide some analysis of the data. Long-term trends and categorization of the incidents are some of the things I have in mind. This is still in its early stages, so we'll see what happens.

The tertiary purpose is just that I'm a geek, and this is fun for me.

Who operates HenricoCrime.org?

Hi, I'm Tony Gambone. I live in Henrico County and I work for the Virginia DEQ as a web developer and webmaster. This is entirely a personal project of mine, though.

Is this the Henrico County Police Department?

Not even the tiniest little bit. I've never even spoken to those fine folks (except when I let my car tax sticker expire, and when I was driving around with headphones - not my finest hour). But I appreciate what they do, and I hope this website will help contribute to the public's understanding of the job they do every day. Their website is here.

Where does the data come from?

It comes from the police department's public ICR search form. You can go there and look up months' worth of police incident information; it's a great service, and it makes this website possible.

Is there any information that you're not showing here?

Yep. There are certain incidents you'll never see here, because the police department doesn't publish them. Judging from the list of exclusions, this is mostly to protect minors or to respect privacy in some situations.

You can also get more information from the search form than I've chosen to display here.

How do you get the locations onto the map?

Based on the address of the incident (which is typically not exact, but given by block number), I get a latitude and longitude by using Yahoo's geocoding API. Once I have that, it's easy to place those locations on a map.

Some of the points on the map are way off. What's the deal?

Yeah, I know. The geocoding (converting an address to latitude/longitude) is great, but it isn't perfect. The same goes for the police data. Sometimes a similar street name or a typo will produce a false location. Because the process is entirely automated, the occasional mistake will slip through. I wish I had time to verify every address whilst sipping on a piña colada with my toes buried in fine Caribbean beach sand, but I don't.

Why don't some of the incidents show up on the map?

Sometimes (for the reasons listed in the previous question), an address can't be found. Occasional misses are also part of the geocoding process.

Why aren't there any incidents today, or in the last few days?

They're not in Henrico's public database yet. It seems like most of them are in there within four days or so, so check back then.

Why just Henrico County?

Well, because I live there, and not anywhere else. Seemed like a good place to start, anyway.

Didn't I see something like this for Richmond?

Yep. RichmondCrime.org gave me the idea for this site, and they gave me some technical assistance and advice.

So this is free, right? What's the catch?

No catch. In fact, I'm not allowed use the data for commercial purposes, so you'll never pay for anything here. You'll never see a single ad on this site, either.

But I want to give you my money!

That's great, but no thanks. Give it to charity instead.

But...

No.