When we were looking for places to live down here in the Charlotte, NC area, spotcrime.com was absolutely invaluable in figuring out neighborhoods to avoid (hint: most of them). Unfortunately most of the jurisdictions around here have since blocked Spotcrime from accessing their data and have instead gone to a single paid vendor, who charges for access to their crime data (and it’s delayed almost a week and inaccurate anyway).
}:-)4
The neighborhood in which I live has had this service available for some time. Apparently the local police and sheriffs department participate in it. After we saw how much crime was taking place in our subdivision we formed a Neighborhood Watch and since then we have not have any crime.