Curious About Crime On And Off Campus?
By Texan News Service
A note from the editors of Texan News Service and Texan TV News:
Want to learn more about crime on the Tarleton campus or in your neighborhood in Stephenville?
Check out two new interactive maps from the Texan News Service – one detailing crimes reported to the Tarleton State University police and the other showing crimes reported to Stephenville police.
Tarleton journalism and broadcast students created both maps over the course of the last year as part of the Freedom of Information Foundation’s Light of Day Project. That project teaches college students across the state how to obtain and use government records.
Amber Ward, editor in chief and senior producer for the Texan News Service and Texan TV News, obtained the Tarleton records. Tarleton records include crimes the university is required to disclose under the federal Clery Act between Jan. 1, 2009 and Dec. 31, 2010.
Monica Pierce, managing editor and producer at the Texan News Service and Texan TV News, obtained Stephenville police records. Pierce obtained records for the same two year period. To date, students have mapped Stephenville records for 2010 for felony crimes required to be reported under Clery. The rest of the records for Stephenville will be mapped in spring 2012.
After receiving those records, students in three journalism classes spent part of Fall 2011 entering data about the crimes into spreadsheets, which were imported and mapped using Google Fusion. The students in class who worked on the project were Amanda Arrambide, McKenzie Boone, Azia Branson, Chelsea Braune, Quinton Butler, Courtney Campbell, Ryan Craft, Ashley Dehmm, Joshua Donahoo, Deirdre Erwin, Randy Garcia, Katelyn Garcia, Briley Garrett, Carissa Gentry, Justin Green, Julie Gutierrez, Lacey Greeson, Landon Haston, Kaley Heflin, Clifford Jones, Brittany Kennedy, Angie Knaupp, Megan Kramer, Zacary Lenaburg, Caleb McCaig, Tyler McConathy, Hannah Miller, Kato Neves, Brittan Owens Presley Parks, Trevor Peele, Paige Poth, Lindsey Rader, Sara Rader, McCoy Renfro, Stephanee Rhodes, Sarah Richards, Ashlyn Rossa, Molly Shafferman, Nicole Sonnier, David Sosa, George Storm, Allison Sulivant, Lauren Wright and Lauren Yarbrough.
The Tarleton Crime Map is at http://www.tarleton.edu/texannews/tarleton-crime.html
The Stephenville Crime map is at http://www.tarleton.edu/texannews/stephenville-crime.html
To search for crimes, mouse over the maps to your location. Move your pointer to a red crime scene dot. When your pointer turns into a finger-point hand, click for information about the particular crime.
Funds to pay for the records came from the Tarleton Department of Communication Studies and the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas.
Questions or comments about this project should be directed to texannews@tarleton.edu.
Editor-in-Chief Amber Ward, Managing Editor Monica Pierce and Adviser Dan Malone contributed to this report.
Texan News Service | Posted on: Tuesday, January 31, 2012 1:50 p.m.
