The Covington Police Department released a new interactive crime map last week. Available through the city website, the map lists records going back to May 2026.
The new map comes after a lag of nearly a year. Captain Justin Bradbury said the department used to work with LexisNexis, a third-party software company, but stopped working with them in August 2025 to cut costs.
Resident Bradley Harris noticed the map’s disappearance. He was used to checking the map for crimes in his neighborhood — and even used it to find where in Covington to move to four years ago.
“After we moved here, I just continued to use it, so it was one of those things that was very handy,” Harris said. “Then I went in one time and didn't see any data, didn't see any crime, and I knew that wasn't right.”
Harris raised his concerns to the city in February. Bradbury said he wasn’t the only resident who spoke up.
“When we found out that there were people who still really wanted to see this map, we decided to take another look and see if there was a way that we could do it in a more cost-effective way,” Bradbury said.
The police department now collaborates with the city analyst to update the map regularly — and it doesn’t cost taxpayers any additional money.
Bradbury said the new crime incidents are available one to two days after they are reported. The map includes seven types of crime: aggravated assault, burglary, felony theft, motor vehicle theft, rape, robbery and theft from vehicle.
“We wanted to pick crimes that caused the most harm to the community,” Bradbury said. “In creating this map, we chose crimes that if something like this happened around your home, you would want to know about it.”
Bradbury said the data reveals a current rise in motor vehicle thefts – and urges residents to not leave cars running unattended.
“That's usually nine times out of 10 how those cars get taken,” he said.
Car thefts are concentrated in the central business district and downtown Covington.
The police department will archive data after a year of being listed — that process will start in May 2027.
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