[Freegis-list] GIS for Crime Statistics

[Knox McIlwain]

Dear FreeGIS Community -

I am looking for a simple, web-based GIS system that I can use to map crime
statistics by location, date, time of day, and type of crime. I am new to
GIS applications, and am somewhat overwhelmed by the options. Can anyone
give me advice on which systems to pursue or groups I should contact?

I live in a neighborhood in Washington, DC that has seen a recent increase
in crime. Many of the citizens - myself included - are actively working with
the police and on our own to make our neighborhood safer. All of the crime
GIS data that we want exists, but the DC government has failed to make it
available in a useful manner. We can get paper reports, but not access to
their GIS application (which they said they would make public, but never
have). As many of you have heard, we have a barely functioning city
government, so we are looking to ourselves for answers.

The most important thing we need to be able to do is identify "hot spots" of
criminal activity and days or times of day when crime is more likely to
occur. With this information we can better coordinate civilian patrols and
present hard data to the police (who, in the absence of data, frequently
tell us to leave them alone and let them do their job).

Any resources you could point me to for a GIS system I can use to plot and
analyze crime data would be greatly appreciated and help make our
neighborhood safer.

Respectfully,

- Knox McIlwain

PS - Please forgive me if my questions are newbie or off topic - if so, I
will look elsewhere for advice.