Community Crime Map Disclaimer & Definitions
Disclaimer
The Madison Police Department (MPD) provides selected records to the LexisNexis Community Crime Map to provide the community with an ability to stay informed about law enforcement and the occurrences of crime and in the community. We believe that law enforcement can better serve the community through a partnership with the public, with the express goals of improving safety and the quality of life within the community.
The information provided through the Community Crime Map has a high rate of accuracy, however, occasionally an address for a crime “event” or offense, may contain inaccurate information, be mapped to an incorrect location, or not be displayed at all. There are several reasons why these anomalies may occur:
Events
It is important to understand what an “event” is. An event displayed in Community Crime Map includes information about the offense, which most accurately reflects what type of crime occurred during the incident in question. If multiple crimes occurred during a single event, the most serious offense will be reflected. An event can also reflect the general type of case for incidents officers respond to that aren’t criminal. Officers respond to many low-level incidents that do not require a report or any formal action; these will typically not be reflected as an “event.”
Maps
To ensure the safety of persons involved in these events, the location will reflect the nearest 100 block of the event. If a crime or address does not appear on the map, the map may be outdated due to new roads, housing developments, or other updates.
Upload schedule
The source of the information provided on the map is from events in the MPD Records Management System (RMS) and Dane County Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) systems. If an event has recently occurred, it will not be posted to the Community Crime Map until after it has been recorded and processed by those systems and then sent to Community Crime Map. The scheduled update of events to the map occurs approximately every 24 hours.
Victim Privacy
Certain sensitive and significant events may not be displayed, i.e. sexual assaults, homicides, or other serious, violent crimes for the protection of victims and other involved parties.
Ongoing Investigations
Additionally, other events are not displayed because they are part of ongoing investigations. Prematurely releasing of information to the public may in turn harm those investigations, (i.e. homicides, sexual assault, death investigations, etc).
Sex Offender Data
Community Crime Maps receives a national feed of sex offender data from records not maintained by MPD.
For more information please refer to the LexisNexis Community Crime Map Disclaimer and Terms of Use.