Students and faculty can know just where crime is happening around campus with a simple click of a button.

Central Michigan University is one of the more than 100 universities and college campuses featured on the new Web site, Ucrime.com.

The Web site, which debuted about a month ago, is a crime-mapping service that generates crime incident maps.

Colin Drane, founder of Ucrime.com, said the Web site gives those who are interested – students, parents and university officials – better access to crime information.

“We’re doing it for everybody,” Drane said. “We just think the data should be public for everybody.”

CMU Chief of Police Stan Dinius hadn’t heard about the Web site, but he said it could be useful.

“Certainly any kind of information that is valid and shows when and where the information is, is helpful,” he said.

User-reported crimes also can be posted on the Web site, and an icon is used to designate that the crime is unverified. Users can check for specific types of crime, such as arson, burglary and shootings by clicking on the tabs on the side.

The site has documented crimes at other colleges around Michigan, such as Oakland Community College, Eastern Michigan University and Grand Valley State University.

Drane said the Web site is updated often with information from public records. However, how often it is updated is limited to what and when police departments release information, he said.

Dinius said a map locating the crimes would be more useful in a larger city. From a citizen’s standpoint, it is nice to know, he said.

“If you’re in a larger city where there is a lot of crime, that map might be useful,” Dinius said. “Here when we see trends we see them obviously.”

Eric Johnson, history professor and an expert in the history of crimes in cities, said parents might find the Web site useful because it shows what the crime is like at the featured universities.

For parents who aren’t familiar with the college their children are or will be attending, the Web site gives some insight as to what areas of campus are more dangerous than others, he said.

“This would be useful if you send your kids there and you’ve never been there,” Johnson said. “It’s good to know where you really want to avoid.”

Johnson, who visited the Web site, said it is neat, although it is missing a lot of higher education institutions, including Wayne State University.

“They tend to have the biggest universities on it and points to where things are,” he said.

Although not featured as a map, CMU Police does post incident reports and complaints on its Web site, police.cmich.edu.

Anyone interested in viewing where crime has taken place on campus can visit Ucrime.com and search “Central Michigan University.”

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E-mail the author: Dana DeFever