> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://tools.osintnewsletter.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://tools.osintnewsletter.com/osint-tools/city-protect.md). # City Protect Tool Description: A public-facing public-safety portal that provides access to participating US law-enforcement agencies, public crime maps and selected incident information. | **City Protect (US)** | **Quick Overview** | | --------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | URL | | | What it does | Provides public access to crime/incident maps and participating law-enforcement agency information. | | How to use it | Search for an agency or location, open the relevant crime map, apply filters and examine individual incidents. | | Cost | Free for public access to the available maps and information. | | Account required | No for basic crime-map searching. An account may be required for certain additional features. | | Cookies | A mixture of cookie-consent/preferences cookies, a session/experience identifier, and a Tealium analytics/tag-management cookie. | | Ownership | Motorola Solutions. | | Use in Reporting | Supports research into publicly reported incidents, locations, dates, incident types and local crime patterns. | ### What does City Protect do? City Protect provides a public-facing way to access crime and public-safety information published by participating law-enforcement agencies. Its map interface allows users to locate agencies and explore incidents using geographic, date and incident-type filters. The platform can also provide additional community-engagement functions, including incident-update subscriptions, anonymous tips, online police reporting and other agency-specific services. **The lowdown:** It’s particularly useful when an investigation requires local US incident data that may not be easily discoverable through a general web search. ### How to Use: **1. Open City Protect and search the agency list or map for the relevant US location or law-enforcement agency.** **2. Open the relevant agency/crime map and use the available filters to narrow results by date range, days of the week, time range and incident type.** **3. Review individual incidents and record the available location, date, incident category and other publicly displayed information.** **4. Compare incidents across a defined geographical area or time period to identify possible patterns, clusters or relevant events. Record the URL, search parameters and date on which the information was observed so that the research can be reproduced and the information distinguished from later updates.** ### Cost * [x] Free * [ ] Partially Free * [ ] Paid Free for public access to the available maps and information. ## Data Processing ### Account Required: * [x] Yes * [x] No No for basic crime-map searching. An account may be required for certain additional features. ### Cookies: City Protect uses several first-party cookies relating to cookie-consent preferences, session management and website analytics. The notice\_\* and optout\_domains\_pc cookies record privacy/consent preferences and interactions with the site's cookie notice. TAsessionID is a unique session identifier used to maintain or recognise a visitor session. utag\_main is associated with Tealium and records pseudonymous session and page-activity information for analytics/tag management. ### Use in Reporting City Protect can be used to: * Verify that a publicly reported incident appears in the participating agency's published crime data. * Identify reported incidents associated with a particular location or geographical area. * Investigate incidents occurring within a defined date or time range. * Filter incidents by publicly available incident categories, such as assault or other crime types. * Build preliminary timelines of reported public-safety incidents. * Identify clusters or recurring incident patterns that may warrant further investigation. * Cross-reference incident information with police statements, court records, local news reports and other independent sources. * Support investigations into local crime patterns, public-safety events and incidents involving particular locations. As an example use case, the [University of Kansas' official Annual Security and Fire Safety Report](https://civilrights.ku.edu/sites/civilrights/files/documents/Reports/University_of_Kansas_Lawrence_Clery_ASR_2022.pdf) describes how crime information was uploaded to CrimeReports/CityProtect and explains that CityProtect provided a map-based system for viewing reported crimes over selected dates. | **Capabilities** | **Limitations** | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Provides a central public interface for participating law-enforcement agencies. | Coverage is dependent on agencies participating in City Protect. | | Allows crime incidents to be explored geographically using an interactive map. | Not every police agency or jurisdiction is necessarily represented. | | Provides filters for date ranges, days, times and incident categories. | Published incident data may be sanitised, generalised or limited compared with underlying police records. | | Can help identify individual reported incidents and broader local patterns. | Incident classifications and publication practices can vary between agencies. | | Provides incident-update functionality for selected searches/areas. | Data may not be real-time and historical coverage can vary. | | Can connect members of the public with additional agency services such as tips or online reporting. | A City Protect listing does not independently establish that an allegation or incident has been proven. | ### Summary City Protect is a useful US public-safety and crime-map resource for finding publicly released incident information from participating law-enforcement agencies. It works best in the discovery, collection, verification and analysis stages of the OSINT workflow but shouldn’t be used as a substitute for obtaining the underlying police report or other primary evidence. ### Ownership City Protect is part of Motorola Solutions' [CommandCentral Community public-safety software ecosystem.](https://www.motorolasolutions.com/en_us/products/command-center-software/public-safety-software/commandcentral-community.html) ### Ethical Considerations * Do not assume that a reported incident means an individual is guilty of an offence. * Treat incident classifications as published categories rather than definitive legal findings. * Verify significant claims against primary or independent sources. * Avoid publishing unnecessary personal information about victims, witnesses or other private individuals. * Take particular care with information relating to sexual offences, minors and vulnerable people. * Do not infer crime rates or trends from an incomplete set of participating agencies without explaining the limitations of the dataset. ### Related Tools: * CrimeMapping * CrimeReports * SpotCrime #### Sources