The City of Ypsilanti recently began collaborating with Eastern Michigan University to provide crime statistics. This partnership began last fall, but it’s not up and running yet. The following is a message from Ypsilanti’s Chief of Police, Matt Harshberger:

“We are submitting our crime stat reports on a bi-weekly basis to the EMU professor and his staff to be mapped on the website. Once the website is up and running, the plan is to provide you, on a bi-weekly basis, with an email notice that the crime map has been updated with new information and it will provide you with a link to go to the map.

Until the time that the site goes public, however, I will begin to send you the crime stats that we also send to EMU. It will provide you with the basic information about Part I crimes occurring in the city, but in a spreadsheet format. Once the website is up and running, I will then send you an email with the link. Thank you very much for your patience during this process. I know EMU is working hard on getting the mapping website done, but it has just taken
longer than anticipated.“

Now I don’t have to tell you that Ypsi Crime launched six weeks earlier than the original Ypsilanti Police Department crime mapping site back in 2005 or that we were the second Google Maps application of its kind in the world. I mean, I don’t have to tell you, but it still looks pretty cool when you read it on the screen.

Anyway. I’m taking this latest announcement by the Chief as a direct challenge to Ypsi Crime’s crime mapping legacy. If the Chief can team up with college kids, then I can do him one better. If he’s going to hire amateurs, then I’ll hire professionals. But to keep it fair, I promise not to pay my professionals any money. Instead, I’ll only offer to help them get their car out of impound when it’s towed on early morning beginning next week.

It’s going to come as a shock to my team when they find out they are nearly five weeks behind schedule, but I have no doubt they will be willing to do whatever it takes in order to make up for lost time. In the mean time, check out the stats for March 1st through March 14th. If larcenies are up, it must mean that it’s Spring time.