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Crime Map in the Works

"Crime scene, do not cross" Yumi Kimura

City Hall is developing a map that will show crime rates throughout Moscow, a news report said.

The result will be made available to citizens via the web portal data.mos.ru by May 2014, following the completion of a system for monitoring criminal activity, Andrei Maiorov, the head of the department of regional security, told M24.ru.

"Technical work on the creation of a monitoring system for criminal activity is currently underway," he said. "Some part of the system's data will be available for public use, but the complete list of open information has not yet been determined."

The majority of the information collected by this system will only be made available to government officials and members of the security services.

Maiorov said it would be reasonable to provide citizens with information concerning regional crime levels, but clarified that this does not mean, "Muscovites can see information about the number of criminal offenders in every residential building."

Regional security ratings should be made available for public access in the form a map, he said. Such information could be useful for citizens, allowing them to demand the installation of additional security cameras in "hot spots" and that depending on the way in which data is provided to the system, programmers can devise a mobile application for the public to access the system, public safety specialists said.

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