Boston Crime /

Caveats: Boston Crime

Data for the maps and blurbs comes from the Boston Police Department's BPDNews.com.

That information is subject to change as police investigate the crimes. I could make mistakes in transcribing things. In other words, Boston Crime is an attempt to gauge trends in violent crimes across the city of Boston, rather than any sort of official record or document. If you have legal questions, consult an attorney!

Also, Boston Crime does not map ALL crimes in Boston. I tried that one month with a spreadsheet from the Boston Police Department, and it took me a ridiculous amount of time to get the coordinates required to map the crime, thanks to Boston's 17th- and 18th-century street layout and names (for example, Boston has multiple Washington streets).

Instead, Boston Crime currently charts only violent crimes, as reported by the Boston Police. Even then, it's hardly complete: The BPD tends not to release rape information, for example and BPDNews really only carries details on a fraction of crimes committed across the city. It also does not report any crime committed on the MBTA subway, train and bus systems (the MBTA has its own police department; which does not post crime data on a Web site) or on land under the jurisdiction of the State Police.

Data goes back to Jan. 1, 2006.