The interactive crime map found on the Sheriff's website have been updated after a Four In Your Corner investigation revealed the maps meant to track crime did not give an accurate picture.
The interactive map gives users a free resource to track crime in their neighborhood. Users have the option to search the type of incident, location, and date. There are more than a dozen icons representing different crimes. A user can select and deselect types of incidents to narrow a search.
Four In Your Corner used the tool to look up the number of homicides in the area to examine the numbers across Southwest Florida after a teenager was killed in a drive-by shooting in August.
FOX 4 found apparent gaps in the system when the numbers of homicide investigations released by the Sheriff's office did not match up with the list of homicides generated on the map.
The Sheriff's Office recognized the gap as an obvious technical mistake and reassured Four In Your Corner it would be resolved.
It's been seventeen days since Four In Your Corner initially reported the story. When we checked this morning, we found there was only one homicide listed in the area for the past six months.
Connor Magoon and Intrinity Packett use crime map tools to get accurate results of crime in their area and were surprised to see the results.
"This information should be updated," Magoon said.
"People's safety is not something that you play around with," Packett said. "So, the fact that this information is not accurate and they're not on top of it worries me because theres a lot more crime going on that we actually know about."
Four In Your Corner reached out to the Sheriff's Office to find out why the crime tracker that is actively being used by people in the community wasn't still reflecting true statistics.
As of this afternoon, the crime map has been updated in its entirety. According to the Sheriff's Office, data is updated every six to eight hours.
