Area law enforcement agencies hope that providing daily crime information on the Web site www.crimereports. com will arm communities with data to protect their neighborhoods, said Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff.

"Knowledge is power," Shurtleff said during a news conference at the state Capitol. He added that the site will help residents to better know what's going on in their community and "better know how to work with law enforcement. It's a great day."

Fifteen police and sheriff's agencies in Utah have already begun sharing their crime information, which is plotted and mapped on CrimeReports.com. In the coming days and weeks, 38 agencies are expected to use the system, said Greg Whisenant, president and CEO of Public Engines, a firm that operates the Web site.

"It's really the first step," Whisenant said, adding that the site will create a "communications channel between law enforcement members and the public."

Information generated daily by law enforcement agencies, such as the date, address and type of a crime, is entered into a departments' respective database, said Christian Faulconer, chief operating officer for Public Engines. At the end of the day, or when a police agency determines, incident data is sent electronically to Crime Reports.com, which then codes the information into a searchable and mappable format.

Access to the CrimeRe- ports.com is free to the public, which can view graphics of crime statistics or set up an account to receive e-mail messages notifying them after a crime occurs in their neighborhood.

There is no cost for police agencies to post their information on the site for a year. Afterward, agencies are charged a monthly fee based on the size of the population the agency serves. Agencies serving more than 50,000 people pay $199 per month, while those below 50,000 people pay $99. Universities are charged $49 per month.

"This Web site will give Utahns an important tool to learn if their neighborhood is safe," Utah Speaker of the House Greg Curtis said. "A better informed public will also help individual neighborhoods work with law enforcement to tackle crime problems."

The state financed $150,000 to fund the first year of Utah's pilot program.

CrimeReports.com is used in several cities and counties in 15 states across the U.S., according to the Web site.

ngonzalez@sltrib.com