In its quest to better inform Salisbury residents about criminal activity in their neighborhoods, the Salisbury Township Police Department has implemented a CrimeMapping system.

According to the company website, "CrimeMapping.com was developed by The Omega Group to help law enforcement agencies provide the public with valuable information about recent crime activity in their neighborhood."

Sergeant Donald Sabo Jr. implemented the search and development of the CrimeMapping.com system for Salisbury Township.

The system went into effect 9 a.m. April 22.

Residents can go to CrimeMapping.com and register for notifications. They should click on "Pennsylvania," use the drop down menu of police departments to search for Salisbury Township Police and a map will pop up. Click on the top right of the screen to "receive crime alerts." Residents enter their email address and put in a radius of how far from the home they would like to see criminal activity. To see all of Salisbury, both eastern and western sides, choose none.

There are also free apps for iPhone and Android users.

The system will alert those registered to crime within a set radius to their homes within 24 hours of the crime.

Information including date of crime, time, place and type of crime is obtained from the existing system used by the police department. The information is uploaded once a day.

Crimes noted will include arson, burglary, assault, disturbing the peace/disorderly conduct, drugs and alcohol, DUI, fraud, homicide, motor vehicle theft, robbery, theft, vandalism, vehicle break-in/theft, weapons and multiple crimes in the same location.

Residents can also pull a detailed report of crime in the area. Reports will not show the exact street address of the crime, rather the block where the crime occurred.

Sabo said residents can also use geomapping on their Smartphones to show how close they are to the location of the crime.

Registered residents have the ability to send alerts and emails to those residents not connected to the system.

Sabo said this application is especially useful for those residents out of town for a short time or an extended stay.

"The public always asks for information and real-time knowledge on crime in the area," Sabo said. "This is automatic as to what happens in the township."

The police department also has a presence on Facebook which has over 1,300 likes.

"Residents love Facebook but we can't always update it as quickly as we'd like," Sabo said.

This system will also be linked to the police department's Facebook page.

"This will give us a good visual for trending crime," Sabo said. "We will be more transparent and open to the public."

Sabo looked at three different programs; this was the easiest to use, most user friendly and it had automatic downloads.

Prior to using this system, the department manually printed reports monthly for both the state police and the Federal Bureau of Investigations.

Currently South Whitehall, Bethlehem city and Upper Macungie are using CrimeMapping.com. Representatives from Upper Macungie said the residents like it and feel they are informed by getting the crime alerts they feel they are part of the police department.

Sabo said he hopes neighboring police departments implement the system so residents can get alerts from police departments in neighboring towns. He hopes to have Meagan's Law offenders included on the website in the future.