MALIBU—The city of Malibu is alerting businesses, employees, students and others in the community about crime and public safety in the region, including a crime mapping website, and monthly crime and public safety reports from Los Angeles County agencies.

The city of Malibu noted in a news release, the public can view recent crime activity in their neighborhood using www.crimemapping.com, a crime mapping website that extracts data from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD). Users can sign up to receive email alerts when crimes occur in a specific location. There is no cost to the city or to individual users.

“Everyone needs to make their own risk assessments when planning safety and security measures for their family and property,” said Mayor Paul Grisanti. “Community crime maps and incident reports are useful tools that can help increase situational awareness within neighborhoods and could prompt community members to take extra precautions to reduce their vulnerability to crime.”

Crimes noted on the map include homicide, robbery, assault, burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft, fraud, vehicle break-ins and theft, arson, DUI, drug and alcohol violations, disorderly conduct, vandalism and weapons violations. According to CrimeMapping.com, the crime data is automatically extracted on a regular basis from law enforcement databases, so maps are up to date. They show general locations of crimes, but not specific street addresses, so the public will not be able to know where crime victims live, an important privacy and security concern.

It should be noted that the crime data is posted automatically without context, so the maps show confirmed crimes as well as unconfirmed reports of crimes. The Malibu Public Safety Commission recommended to the Malibu City Council to pursue a crime mapping tool to keep community members informed about crime and public safety in their neighborhoods. For additional questions or concerns, contact the Malibu-Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station at (818) 878-1808.

Another valuable resource for situational awareness are monthly incident reports provided to the city by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Fire Department and Lifeguard Division.

The Malibu-Lost Hills Sheriff’s report includes statistics on all categories of crimes and traffic collisions in Malibu city limits. The report from the Fire Department includes all dispatches for fires, medical calls, hazardous materials incidents, Lifeguard assists and service calls. The Lifeguard report includes preventive actions, enforcement of regulations, emergency vehicle responses, medical calls, ocean rescues, boat warnings, agency assists, and missing persons.

Reports will be shared each month with the City’s Public Safety Commission and Public Safety Manager. Recent reports and an archive of past reports from each Department are available to view, download or print out on the Public Safety webpage at https://www.malibucity.org/PublicSafety.