Analyst Plots Tulsa Homicides On Map, Revealing Hot Spots

Eighty-one people lost their lives to murder last year in Tulsa and a Green Country man is putting those names on a map for a special reason.

He said after hearing about murder after murder on the news here in Tulsa, he wanted to put his skills to good use, so he plugged in the data for six hours hoping his craft can cultivate change in the city.

"As a society, I just feel like we're kind of numb to hearing about it, you know,” said GIS Analyst Trent Pollard.  

Eighty-one murder victims are represented by 81 white dots.

"When you take data and numbers and put it on a map, it just makes it a little more real,” he said.  

"It's an acronym for Geographic Information System," he said. 

He builds digital databases and maps them out to solve problems. He took one of Tulsa’s top problems, spent six hours crunching in case information, and put three maps together. 

The heat map shows the hot spots for homicides.

"We know because we live them, where they're at," said Sgt. Dave Walker, "putting it up there gives you a look and see, and just reminds you that a certain area of town is a little more prone to having murders than others."

Sergeant Walker said it's a good tool for his detectives.

"I forwarded it to my folks so that they all can have the same look," Walker said, "the idea is to take that information and do something with it."

Pollard hopes the maps show how dangerous the job is and how these dots might be a little closer to home than Tulsans think. 
Sergeant Walker said the maps are a good tool for people when it comes to voting on taxes that fund the police department. 

Hopefully, there are fewer dots on this year's map.