...and not get freaked out.

Have you ever looked at a crime map of your neighborhood? Did you even know you could do that?

The Columbia Police Department has a nifty link to a LexisNexis Community Crime Map – an interactive look at crimes committed in a geographic area – which is set to view Columbia by default, but can be expanded to look at areas as big-picture as the entire Midlands, or as small as one particular street.

Image via LexisNexis Community Crime Map: Columbia, SC

You can search the following:

📍 Address / City

📆 Date range (pictured here: Sept. 2-Oct. 2)

🚨 Event (specific crime, like Homicide, Sexual Assault, Theft, Arson, DUI, etc., marked with icons)

❌ Sex Offenders map

⬆️ Density of crime map (pictured here as the rainbow-colored heat map overlay)

🗺️ Agency layers (overlay County lines, Council districts, patrol areas + more)

The goal? To connect law enforcement with the community to reduce crime + improve public safety. These maps offer transparency and empower the public to be able to see what’s going down in their neighborhoods – without having to contact the police to find out. All the info is already out there. You can even sign up for crime alerts in your area.

But one thing these crime maps don’t want to do is incite fear. If you’re going to check these maps, the CPD recommends reviewing these tutorials to learn more about how to view the map, data grid, analytics and metadata – so you understand key terms + how the maps work (before stressing out). Here are some additional tips on how to make sense of crime maps.

What is crime like in your neighborhood?

We checked crimes from Sept. 3-Oct. 3 in the following downtown areas to see how the numbers compare.

Main St. (between Assembly, Gervais, Bull + Elmwood) | ~25 | mostly larceny, some theft

N. Main (between Elmwood, Park, Newman + Bull) | ~10 | mostly theft from vehicle on Bull St., some burglary/breaking and entering

BullStreet (between Bull, Colonial, Harden + Taylor) | ~7 | mostly theft from vehicle on Bull St.

Shandon (between Devine, Kilbourne, Rosewood + Harden) | ~21 | larceny, burglary/breaking and entering, theft from vehicle, two robberies

Rosewood (between Rosewood, S. Beltline, down to Ben Arnold Center Park) | ~41 | mostly theft from vehicle, burglary/breaking and entering, some vandalism

Elmwood (between Avondale, N. Main, down to Marshall Park) | ~23 | mostly theft from vehicle, some auto theft, some larceny

Forest Acres (between Covenant, Trenholm + Two Notch) | ~38 | mostly theft from vehicle and something called false pretenses/swindle/confidence game

The Vista (between Huger, Elmwood, Assembly + Blossom) | ~35 | mostly larceny/theft, some traffic incidents

Five Points (between Gervais, Heidt, Blossom + Pickens) | ~49 | mostly larceny, some theft from vehicle, some fake/other ID use

These numbers were fascinating to find – I’m definitely going to sign up for crime alerts in my ‘hood now. But I’ll be over here Googling "confidence game" before I jump to any conclusions.

–Chloe