HUNTSVILLE — The Walker County Sheriff’s Office has stepped up its efforts to keep residents up to date with illegal activity in the area so they can be aware of what is going on.

Sheriff Clint McRae is pleased to announce that the sheriff’s office and BAIR Analytics Inc. recently partnered to provide a new way for the public to stay informed about crime in Walker County. The sheriff’s office now has an online crime map called RAIDS Online (www.raidsonline.com) that maps and analyzes crime data, alerts Walker County citizens about crimes in their area, and allows the law enforcement to quickly alert the public about crimes as they occur.

“This program is just another innovative resource that we have tapped into in order to make things more convenient for our community,” McRae said.

Walker County citizens can view a map and grid with all of the crimes in their area, sign up for neighborhood watch reports that automatically email a breakdown of recent crime activity, and submit an anonymous tip about a crime directly to their law enforcement agency. RAIDS Online automatically syncs with the sheriff’s office records system to keep crime information updated online and in the mobile app.

RAIDS Online cleans and geocodes the crime data, then displays all of the incidents on a map, grid and analytics dashboard along with some basic information about the incidents, including the type of crime, location type, block-level address, date and time.

“The Walker County Sheriff’s Office participation in RAIDS Online highlights their commitment to proactive communication with the public they serve,” said Sean Bair, founder of BAIR Analytics. “We’re excited to partner with the Walker County Sheriff’s Office to provide this free service for their community.”

Typically, agencies can spend thousands of dollars annually through other crime mapping providers. BAIR Analytics offers RAIDS Online and the RAIDS Online Mobile app as a free service to any law enforcement agency that wishes to participate. RAIDS Online is ad-free and BAIR Analytics does not sell the data to third party vendors, thus the agency remains in complete control over their data.

“We wanted to do something to help law enforcement in these tough economic times. We consider this a basic service that we are more than happy to provide to the public and our law enforcement friends,” said Bair, a former police officer and analyst.



RAIDS Online Mobile

RAIDS Online Mobile empowers citizens to better understand crime trends and lower crime in their area. Recent crime incidents are displayed on a map or listed in a grid. Users can click on an incident for more information or display a hotspot map based on the crimes that are currently in display. Users can also sign up for neighborhood watch reports that automatically email any recent crime activity on a daily, weekly or monthly schedule. The app makes all of this information accessible anywhere from a user’s mobile device. The RAIDS Online Mobile app is available for free on the App Store.

Anyone can visit Walker County’s crime map at: http://www.raidsonline.com/?address=Huntsville,%20TX

McRae would like to thank Lt. Brad Fullwood and Capt. Tim Whitecotton for their efforts with this project.