CrimeTracer Support

Quick Search

Once your CrimeTracer account is activated, the first page you land on after logging in is the Quick Search page, as shown in the image.

Use it like you would any other search engine. If you're looking for a person, you might search for their name, driver’s license, birthday, scars, or some other piece of information you might have.

Quick search returns all references to your search criteria. For example, if you search for "Brown eyed male 18 – 30", your result set will include all documents that mention brown eyes OR male OR the age range 18 – 30. The more relevant results will be higher in the result set.

Once you have your results, you may be able to access CLEAR reports. You can further refine your results by using the facets on the left. Under the facets, you can view the Map for a graphical representation of the data. You can also utilize the Tag Cloud under the map to quickly see persons or vehicles most often involved from your search terms.

Click on a result to view it's document details. For a visual representation of the entities contained within the document details, try the Visualizer function.

If you would like to be notified of new information that fits your search criteria including selected filters, you can use the Alerts feature.

Expand Quick Search Tips

To Search For:	Example:	Notes:
Single Words	ABCD123 2022-042365 ANYTOWN COMMERCIAL BURGLARY JOHN DOE	Single words must be in a document to appear in the results. Multiple words separated by a space must also ALL be in a document to appear. Multiple words separated by a space will appear in the exact order listed at the top of the results. Multiple words separated by a space may also appear in separate parts of a document, but will be listed AFTER the exact order results above. E.g. JOHN Smith / Robert DOE
Phrases	"COMMERCIAL BURGLARY" "123 MAIN ST" "JOHN DOE"	Putting quotes around multiple words provides an exact match on the phrase listed. Words must be spelled exactly the same and in the exact order listed to be included in the results. The system will NOT find instances of 'close enough' matches where quotes are used. >E.g. "JOHN Robert DOE" or "123 East MAIN ST" It WILL, however apply a diminiutive name algorithm to all searches. E.g. "JON DOE" "JOHNNY DOE" or "JONATHAN DOE"
Proximity	"123 MAIN ST"~1 "JOHN DOE"~5	Adding a Tilde or Squiggle ~ character followed by a number, allows that number of words BETWEEN your exact match terms. This provides for BOTH the exact match and any additional words or characters that may come between them. E.g. "123 EAST MAIN ST" or "JOHN ROBERT SMITH-DOE"
Wildcards	ABC* 123, AB3 PETERS?N	Adding an Asterisk or Star * character anywhere in a word, replaces any number of charactersin place of the wildcard. E.g. ABC123, ABC-CLEANERS The wildcard can be at the beginning, end or in the middle of the word. Adding a Question Mark ? character replaces exactly one character in a word. E.g. PETERSON or PETERSEN
Dates	1991-05-18 5/28/91, 05-18-1991 "May 18th 1991"	All dates are converted and stored as YYYY-MM-DD, and using this format will provide the best results. Thomson Reuters CLEAR subscribers should stick to this format. The search algorithm will automatically cross reference any date entered, to the YYYY-MM-DD format to support every possible format. Be careful when using date formats containing spaces, as each word will be treated separately unless quotes are used to make it a phrase. Keep in mind that searching for dates will find ALL instances of a particular date, whether a DOB or Report Date. (unless specified otherwise as described below)
Descriptions	"WHITE MALE" BURGLARY" WEAPON "10* MAIN"~1 "BLACK NISSAN" DRUGS	Words and Phrases can be combined to build descriptive searches based on all the syntax elements listed in this document. Start with what you know, then drill down into Agencies, Date Ranges and Locations using the filters and map tools. Once you've entered your descriptive search and filtered to a relevant set of documents, use the Tag Cloud to find the highest number of People, Vehicles and Location leads
People Search Tips	"JOHN DOE"~2 (use rectangle or polygon) (find the likely date of birth) "JOHN DOE"~2 1972-01-01	Always start with the First and Last Name, Quoted with the Tilde ~2 or ~3 to find all matches on a name. Once you have the results, zoom in on the map to enclose an area where your suspect is likely to have been contacted by police. Look at the Tag Cloud to find the most pvalent person matching your search within the Geofence. (Note these results only contain geocodable documents) Add the Date of Birth listed in the Tag Cloud to your original Name search. This will give you ALL documents for this specific Person/DOB combo.
Vehicle Search Tips	ABC123 ABC* "BLACK NISSAN" AZ "JOHN DOE" (open offense description) (look at the tag cloud)	Searching a plate is the most common means of locating a vehicle. In most cases you do NOT need the State abbreviation, but can always add it as necessary. Partial Plates can be combined with other descriptors to narrow down results. As with any search result, looking at the Offense Description facet will show you the types of things the vehicle has been most involved in. Similarly the Tag Cloud will show you the People most associated with that vehicle.
Location Search Tips	"123 MAIN"~1 ANYTOWN	Use the LEAST Common Denominator to find the most results. The full Address is far too specific: E.g. "123 East MAIN St" ANYTOWN, USA Adding Direction, Type and State requires that they are all: A.) present in the document; B.) correct, and; C.) spelled exactly as you entered them. By removing Direction and Type, using the Tilde ~1 and JUST listing the City, you are getting ANY iteration of the above, including anywhere they are blank.
Phone Search Tips	2065551212 206 5551212 5551212	Phone numbers can come from source RMS systems in a variety of ways. In most cases the parentheses, hyphens and periods are stripped out and stored as digits only. Depending on how the RMS stores the components of the phone number you can search as a single word, phrase or multiple words. If you search just the number without an area code, you can use the agency filter to narrow down results to a certain part of the country
Boolean Operators	+COKE -COLA BURGLARY OR THEFT ("WHITE MALE" AND TATTOO)	The PLUS and MINUS are Include/Exclude symbols. While the + is implied on every word or phrase you enter, the - will exclude any documents containing that word The AND, OR and NOT operators are supported in coordination with parenthesis and quotes to isolate specific words and phrases. E.g. gun OR firearm OR rifle OR pistol OR handgun OR "semi-auto" OR "semi auto" OR "assault weapon" OR PMF OR "privately made firearm" OR "privately manufactured firearm" OR p80 OR "polymer 80" OR polymer80 OR ghost OR silencer OR sear OR trigger OR multiburst
Synonyms	"WHITE PICKUP" "HOME DEPOT" THEFT	In many cases where a single word can be represented by many other words, we search the exact match first, then find potential synonyms. For instance a search for "WHITE PICKUP" will also find White Silverados, F150s, RAMs, Tundras, Etc. "HOME DEPOT" THEFT will also find Burglaries, Robberies Etc.

To Search For:

Example:

Notes:

Single Words

ABCD123

2022-042365 ANYTOWN

COMMERCIAL BURGLARY

JOHN DOE

Single words must be in a document to appear in the results.

Multiple words separated by a space must also ALL be in a document to appear.

Multiple words separated by a space will appear in the exact order listed at the top of the results.

Multiple words separated by a space may also appear in separate parts of a document, but will be listed AFTER the exact order results above. E.g. JOHN Smith / Robert DOE

Phrases

"COMMERCIAL BURGLARY"

"123 MAIN ST"

"JOHN DOE"

Putting quotes around multiple words provides an exact match on the phrase listed.

Words must be spelled exactly the same and in the exact order listed to be included in the results.

The system will NOT find instances of 'close enough' matches where quotes are used. >E.g. "JOHN Robert DOE" or "123 East MAIN ST"

It WILL, however apply a diminiutive name algorithm to all searches. E.g. "JON DOE" "JOHNNY DOE" or "JONATHAN DOE"

Proximity

"123 MAIN ST"~1

"JOHN DOE"~5

Adding a Tilde or Squiggle ~ character followed by a number, allows that number of words BETWEEN your exact match terms.

This provides for BOTH the exact match and any additional words or characters that may come between them. E.g. "123 EAST MAIN ST" or "JOHN ROBERT SMITH-DOE"

Wildcards

ABC*

*123, AB*3

PETERS?N

Adding an Asterisk or Star * character anywhere in a word, replaces any number of charactersin place of the wildcard. E.g. ABC123, ABC-CLEANERS

The wildcard can be at the beginning, end or in the middle of the word.

Adding a Question Mark ? character replaces exactly one character in a word. E.g. PETERSON or PETERSEN

Dates

1991-05-18

5/28/91, 05-18-1991

"May 18th 1991"

All dates are converted and stored as YYYY-MM-DD, and using this format will provide the best results. Thomson Reuters CLEAR subscribers should stick to this format.

The search algorithm will automatically cross reference any date entered, to the YYYY-MM-DD format to support every possible format.

Be careful when using date formats containing spaces, as each word will be treated separately unless quotes are used to make it a phrase.

Keep in mind that searching for dates will find ALL instances of a particular date, whether a DOB or Report Date. (unless specified otherwise as described below)

Descriptions

"WHITE MALE" BURGLARY"

WEAPON "10* MAIN"~1

"BLACK NISSAN" DRUGS

Words and Phrases can be combined to build descriptive searches based on all the syntax elements listed in this document.

Start with what you know, then drill down into Agencies, Date Ranges and Locations using the filters and map tools.

Once you've entered your descriptive search and filtered to a relevant set of documents, use the Tag Cloud to find the highest number of People, Vehicles and Location leads

People Search Tips

"JOHN DOE"~2

(use rectangle or polygon)
(find the likely date of birth)
"JOHN DOE"~2 1972-01-01

Always start with the First and Last Name, Quoted with the Tilde ~2 or ~3 to find all matches on a name.

Once you have the results, zoom in on the map to enclose an area where your suspect is likely to have been contacted by police.

Look at the Tag Cloud to find the most pvalent person matching your search within the Geofence. (Note these results only contain geocodable documents)

Add the Date of Birth listed in the Tag Cloud to your original Name search. This will give you ALL documents for this specific Person/DOB combo.

Vehicle Search Tips

ABC123

ABC* "BLACK NISSAN" AZ

"JOHN DOE"
(open offense description)
(look at the tag cloud)

Searching a plate is the most common means of locating a vehicle. In most cases you do NOT need the State abbreviation, but can always add it as necessary.

Partial Plates can be combined with other descriptors to narrow down results.

As with any search result, looking at the Offense Description facet will show you the types of things the vehicle has been most involved in.

Similarly the Tag Cloud will show you the People most associated with that vehicle.

Location Search Tips

"123 MAIN"~1 ANYTOWN

Use the LEAST Common Denominator to find the most results. The full Address is far too specific: E.g. "123 East MAIN St" ANYTOWN, USA

Adding Direction, Type and State requires that they are all: A.) present in the document; B.) correct, and; C.) spelled exactly as you entered them.

By removing Direction and Type, using the Tilde ~1 and JUST listing the City, you are getting ANY iteration of the above, including anywhere they are blank.

Phone Search Tips

2065551212

206 5551212

5551212

Phone numbers can come from source RMS systems in a variety of ways. In most cases the parentheses, hyphens and periods are stripped out and stored as digits only.

Depending on how the RMS stores the components of the phone number you can search as a single word, phrase or multiple words.

If you search just the number without an area code, you can use the agency filter to narrow down results to a certain part of the country

Boolean Operators

+COKE -COLA

BURGLARY OR THEFT

("WHITE MALE" AND TATTOO)

The PLUS and MINUS are Include/Exclude symbols. While the + is implied on every word or phrase you enter, the - will exclude any documents containing that word

The AND, OR and NOT operators are supported in coordination with parenthesis and quotes to isolate specific words and phrases. E.g. gun OR firearm OR rifle OR pistol OR handgun OR "semi-auto" OR "semi auto" OR "assault weapon" OR PMF OR "privately made firearm" OR "privately manufactured firearm" OR p80 OR "polymer 80" OR polymer80 OR ghost OR silencer OR sear OR trigger OR multiburst

Synonyms

"WHITE PICKUP"

"HOME DEPOT" THEFT

In many cases where a single word can be represented by many other words, we search the exact match first, then find potential synonyms.

For instance a search for "WHITE PICKUP" will also find White Silverados, F150s, RAMs, Tundras, Etc. "HOME DEPOT" THEFT will also find Burglaries, Robberies Etc.

Expand Quick Search Limitor Tips

You can limit search results to specific Phrases such as a location or zip code by using search limiters. Here is an example list that currently works in Quick Search:

To Search For:	Example:	Notes:
Person Limiter	person:TAHOE	Finds only People with First, Last, Middle or Moniker of TAHOE, ignoring Vehicles and Locations
Plate Limiter	plate:TAHOE	Finds only personalized TAHOE License Plates, ignoring Vehicle Make, Locations and People Named Tahoe
Vehicle Limiter	vehicle:TAHOE	Finds Chevy TAHOE's ignoring Names, Locations and any personalized plates saying TAHOE
Location Limiter	location:TAHOE	Finds only Locations called TAHOE, ignoring People and Vehicles with that name
Offense Limiter	offense:PC187	Finds any document coded as PC187, ignoring documents with PC187 listed only in the Narrative.
Soundex Limiter	sounds_like:MOHAMED	Finds documents with words that sound like MOHAMED, regardless of how they are spelled. Uses the Soundex phonetic matching algorithm. Just spell any word exactly like it sounds.
Title Limiter	title:CHILD	Finds documents with Role or Title listed as CHILD
Victim Limiter	victim:VANESSA	Finds documents where someone named VANESSA is listed as a Victim
Suspect Limiter	suspect:FISHER	Finds documents where someone named FISHER is listed as a Suspect
Arrestee Limiter	arrestee:YOUNG	Finds documents where someone named YOUNG is listed as Arrestee
Officer Limiter	officer:SMITH	Finds documents where someone named SMITH is listed as an Officer
City Limiter	city:OAKLAND	Finds documents where a Location City is listed as OAKLAND
County Limiter	county:PIMA	Finds documents where a Location County is listed as PIMA
State Limiter	state:CALIFORNIA	Finds documents where a Location State is listed as California
Zip Code Limiter	zipcode:82501	Finds documents where a Location Zip Code is listed as 82501
Primary Date Limiter	primary_dates:[2019-01-06T00:00:00Z TO 2019-01-10T00:00:00Z]	Sets a date range for the Primary Date of a document. This feature can be more easily accomplished using the Date Range / Year facet on the results screen
Recency Limiter (Any Date)	primary_dates:[NOW-24MONTHS TO NOW]	Finds documents with Primary Dates going back a specified amount of time from today. Supported parameters are DAYS, WEEKS, MONTHS, YEARS This feature can be useful for regular searches that are saved, bookmarked and/or run on a regular basis. It can also be appended to any existing search by adding it to the Refine Your Search field.
Incident Date Limiter	incident_date:([2010-01-01T12:00:00Z TO 2010-01-02T12:00:00Z])	Sets a date range for the Incident Date of a document rather than the Primary Date. [NOW-3DAYS to NOW] parameter also supported
Reported Date Limiter	reported_dates:[2019-01-01T00:00:00Z TO 2020-01-30T00:00:00Z]	Sets a date range for the Reported Date of a document rather than the Primary Date. [NOW-3WEEKS to NOW] parameter also supported
Arrest Date Limiter	arrest_dates:[2019-01-01T00:00:00Z TO 2021-01-02T00:00:00Z]	Sets a date range for the Arrest Date of a document rather than the Primary Date. [NOW-3MONTHS to NOW] parameter also supported
Dispatch Date Limiter	dispatch_dates:[2010-01-01T00:00:00Z TO 2021-12-02T00:00:00Z]	Sets a date range for the Dispatch Date of a document rather than the Primary Date. [NOW-24MONTHS to NOW] parameter also supported
Booking Date Limiter	booking_dates:[2010-01-01T00:00:00Z TO 2021-12-02T00:00:00Z]	Sets a date range for the Booking Date of a document rather than the Primary Date. [NOW-2YEARS to NOW] parameter also supported

Results

At the top of the page, you can see the term you previously searched for in the search bar, in this case "John Doe" (a). You can use this search bar to start a new search. The total number of results returned can be seen underneath the search bar (b). The results are defaulted to sorting by relevance. To sort by agency or by date instead, use the dropdown to the right (c).

Each result will have a title showing the agency, state, document type and number,a brief description and the date and time of report, if available (d). Click on the title to view the full report.

Under the title you will be able to see a more detailed snapshot of the report including the date(s), location(s), offense(s), officer(s), person(s) and vehicle(s) involved (e). This is followed by a snapshot of data relevant to your search (f). To see context surrounding the relevant data, click "show context" at the bottom right (g). Any words that match your search terms will be highlighted in yellow.

Results could display entity information from the details page if found, and not be highlighted since it's from a separate database.

If your agency has an active Thomson Reuters subscription, you may also see CLEAR reports in your results set.

CLEAR Report

If your agency has an active Thomson Reuters subscription, you may see results with an orange background. You have the option of filtering out all other results by clicking the "View Only CLEAR Results" button. Clicking the result title will open the full report.

The full and complete CLEAR report can also be downloaded from each CLEAR result by clicking CLEAR Report or the orange icon. Clicking the Visualize button will show a visualization of that result with other Thompson Reuters Clear data as well as CrimeTracer data.

Refinement

Dig deeper into result sets by adding additional text to searches and combining that text with multiple filters. For example, a simple search for "homicide" will yield over 600,000 results, but by adding specific terms and utilizing filters, these results can be narrowed to a handful of documents.

Enter your initial search term at the top of the page.
Add more terms like "glock" to refine your results.
Your results will now focus on fewer documents.
Combine search terms with filters like "Agency" for even further refinement.
Filter by "Date Range/Year" to zero in on specific documents.

Map

Use the map for a graphical representation of your Quick Search results. For example, if you search for "John Doe" you will get a set of results from all over the United States. Every result with geolocation data will be displayed on the map.

A single result is represented by a marker and clusters are represented by data circles. The number shown in the data circle represents the amount of results in the cluster. Click on the data circles to drill down into specific areas and only view documents from that area.

Zoom into a state, city, or neighborhood to narrow the results even further. You can zoom in or out either by using the plus and minus buttons in the upper-left corner or the scroll wheel on your mouse.

Clicking on the circled icon will open an expanded map in a new tab as shown in the second image.

Additionally, you can use the polygon tool (gray pentagon) on the bottom-left to capture a specific set of markers. Click on the polygon, then click on the map to form a shape. The last click must be on the same point as the first to close the area. The result set will then update to only show documents within the search polygon.

Alerts

Alerts can be created on Quick Search search terms and filters. The alert process runs at midnight every night and new alerts will display in CrimeTracer shortly thereafter. Follow the tutorial below to start using alerts.

Click the "Create Alert" button on the search results page.
Enter a name for the alert in the pop-up. Note that all search terms and filters used in the search are displayed as the Search Criteria.
Look for numbered badge on the alert bell in the upper right-hand corner of the app. This indicates new information has arrived in CrimeTracer that matches the search criteria you created an alert for.
To view and manage existing alerts, click on the alert bell in the upper right-hand corner of the app.
This will take you to the Alerts page where you can view:
a. All New Search Results
b. New Results from the Last 24 Hours
c. New Results from the Last 7 Days
When an alert is no longer needed, simply click on the X to delete the alert from your list.