By STEVEN CALHOUN/Staff Writer

The Clanton Police Department has implemented a new system that maps police activity in almost real-time.

“I thought it would be nice if we could show the public what we’re doing in the community,” said Captain Neil Fetner.

Fetner said this system will help inform the community when they have questions about police activity. He mentioned officers often are asked what happened on a certain date, and they are not aware because they were not on duty at the time.

“They’ll often catch an officer who was on his off day … and it makes the police officer look like he doesn’t know what’s going on in the community,” said Fetner. “[With this system] … within 15 minutes … if we’ve made a traffic stop in that neighborhood or if we’ve been to a call in that neighborhood, it’s on there.”

The system is called CrimeReports, and it collects data directly from the patrol cars’ computers to create a map of police activity in Clanton. It also shows where registered sex offenders live on the interactive map.

Users can sort the incidents by category and time of occurrence. By default, the last three days are shown on the map, and users can create a custom timeframe to see crimes from further back or for a more specific date range.

According to Fetner, the system updates every fifteen minutes. The map is repopulated with icons representing different types of calls. Not all of them are criminal; some stops are business checks or animal control calls, for example.

The system also has a “share” function, with which users can post an incident to their social media. As an example, Fetner said a wreck could be blocking traffic, and users could post it to Facebook so their friends would know and could take alternate routes.

According to Fetner, the tool is intended to bridge a communication gap between the CPD and the community. He said it benefits citizens as well as those who are considering a move to Clanton, as they can check the types of calls the police go on in a prospective neighborhood and decide if they want to live there.

Anyone can access the system at any time. CrimeReports can be found at Clantonpd.org/crimereports.html or by searching for Clanton at Crimereports.com.

Users can create custom alerts and submit tips about crimes. Businesses can even register camera locations so that police can identify places where a suspect may have been caught on video.