Details about crime and traffic incidents in Sedgwick County are now available online or through a mobile phone app.
The Sedgwick County Sheriff’s office rolled out its new crime mapping tool, called “What’s Going On,” during a staff meeting on Tuesday.
The map is designed to let county residents know when and where crime is occurring.
Lt. Lin Dehning explained the map shows the rough location of crimes and traffic incidents, not the exact address.
"It’s designed basically to be in the middle of the street and 100 block rather on a specific house," he said.
Dehning said users can search for specific information on the map using several filters: time, which allows a user to select a specific date or date range; crime, which allows a user to select what type of crime; and traffic, which allows the user to focus on the type of traffic event.
The sheriff’s office data includes cases of arson, assault, drugs homicide, robbery, suspicious character, weapons, burglary, drug violations, larceny/theft, stolen vehicles and vandalism. Dehning said some crimes are omitted due to privacy or legal issues such as crimes involving juveniles or sex-related charges.
Dehning said the data is updated every morning. The crime map only uses data from the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s office and doesn’t include cases handled by the Wichita Police Department.
The county’s Geographic Information Systems department began working on the crime map tool about four years ago.
The crime map is available on the county’s website and mobile app.
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