Wednesday, May 20, 2009

New micro site features violent-crime database

A new partnership between the Tallahassee Democrat and the U.S. Marshals Service can help keep you better informed about crime in our communities and maybe help take a criminal off the street.

The U.S. Marshals Service is providing photographs and information to feed into a newly created database that helps viewers to become better informed about the most-wanted suspected violent criminals in our region.

The information is gathered as part of the Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force, spearheaded by the service, which also is comprised of local law-enforcement officers and the State Attorney's Office, which is tasked with capturing violent felons wanted in our communities.

“We welcome the public's help in tracking down these violent felons and bringing them to justice to make our streets safer, and this Web site will accomplish this goal,” said Frank Chiumento, assistant chief of the U.S. Marshals Northern District of Florida in a story in the Democrat today.

With the new database, we are launching a micro site: Tallahassee.com/crime. This site, which will also be accessible from the front of Tallahassee.com, will include our galleries of people booked into the Leon County Jail on felony charges, gathered in partnership with the Leon County Sheriff’s Office; news articles on crimes; reports on others wanted by local law-enforcement agencies from Big Bend Crime Stoppers; videos and other information on crime; and information on how to report crime and criminal suspects to authorities.

We continue to work with other local and regional law-enforcement agencies to get their information as part of this comprehensive site.

Over time, we plan to add additional databases on criminal activities, crime statistics and analysis of what is happening across our region. We’ll also add links to forums on Tallahassee.com to allow the public to network and talk about crime in their own neighborhoods and communities.

Meanwhile, reporters and editors from the Democrat and Tallahassee.com have been meeting for months with experts and others in law enforcement, education, social services, the clergy and community centers to discuss how we can better help the community address violence in our region.

Our goal is to serve as a better conduit of information and to engage the community in conversation about violence and violent crime. We’re calling the project “Let’s Talk About It.”

More on this later, but if you are interested in getting involved, we are planning a teen and adult summit on crime along with several partner organizations, including the Lawrence-Gregory Community Center for June 13. So save the date now if you are interested in joining in the conversation or just listening to what young folks and experts have to say about crime in our community.

For more information about the summit, contact Local Desk Editor Rebeccah Cantley at (850) 599-2391 or rcantley@tallahassee.com.

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