As I mentioned in a post here months ago, the Police Department under Commissioner Chuck Ramsey seems to have made a renewed effort to make their Web site more useful to the press and general public.

The latest addition allows you to play chef in the crime lab and create your own crime map. You add the fix'ns -- date, location, type of crime (pick from rape, robberies, homicides and more) -- and voila! A personalized crime map that you can show to friends and loved ones.

The maps can only show crimes in 30-day period, and so far you can't look back further than January 2007. All in all, though, it's a quick way to figure out what's been going on in your neighborhood.