Find Out About Crime In Your Neighborhood

Have you ever seen police officers in your neighborhood and wondered what they were doing? Now you can find out thanks to a new web page and phone app by the Sioux Falls Police Department.

You'll find Crime Watch neighborhoods scattered all around Sioux Falls, but now virtually anyone can keep an eye on the crimes that directly affect them with a simple click of a mouse.

"It's really going to give people a good indication of what's happening in their area," Sioux Falls Police information officer Sam Clemens said.

All you have to do is go to the Crime Report web page and click on your own neighborhood. There you'll find everything from traffic stops in your area to major crimes and even a link to the state's sex offender registry. 

Clemens say the interactive map will make it easy for people to see crime trends and take action, if necessary.

"If they're looking for property crimes, they can follow that. Burglaries, if there are any violent crimes, they can track that stuff," Clemens said.

You can even sign up for e-mail alerts to warn you when criminal activity happens in your neighborhood and there's place to give police tips that may help them make an arrest.

"If we get them, it's great and we'll use that information.  But more importantly, we just want people to be aware of what's happening in their neighborhood and this is a real easy, simple tool for people to use to be able to see what's going on around them," Clemens said.

The Crime Report web page and iPhone app are both free for anyone to use.  Police say they hope it will make people more aware of what's going on around them, more likely to report a crime and possibly even provide information that's useful to police.