Citizens don’t trust cops; cops don’t trust the news; and the news doesn’t trust its own mother (as we’re taught from day one at J School). It seems like my audience is filled with people who don’t trust each other. So, it’s hard to draw these people to one site—namely mine—on a regular basis.
 
So, how do I give these divergent people one place to find news that they can trust? By letting them all have their say on Watching the Detectives 2.0—the Wiki Chronicles (the site that I would build if I had a million dollars).
 
That’s right, I would launch the Wikipedia of crime news. This site would provide interactive, collaborative news that excludes no one.
 
My idea for the Wiki Chronicles sprung mostly from Bonnie Prisbrey’s wish for a crime Wiki, Trench Reynold’s assertion that all crime bloggers should get together to form one blog and Azam Ahmed’s idea for a blog where reporters show their tracks. My community has one common goal— to visit a site where they can get “just the facts.” And I’m the “Ma’am” to give it to them.
 
Now down to the nitty-gritty. Take a look at my (extremely rough) draft of Watching the Detectives: The Wiki Chronicles.
 
The site would feature a homepage with a Chicago neighborhood map as the display. When users click on a certain neighborhood, they would get a list of news stories from that particular area. We would start with the news story and then have commentary from reporters on how they covered the story, witnesses on what they saw, cops on what they saw and any other citizens who might want to give a point of view.
 
All of these commenters would have to be approved (by way of filling out an online form) before they could post on the site, to cut down on rumors and cyber terrorism. Also, we would have site moderators, constantly trolling the site for false information, ranting and any other destructive behavior. Anyone who acts in such a manner would be barred from interacting with the wiki. In short, some people might misuse the site, but we would do all we could to prevent them from doing so.
 
The home page would also have several search features, in case you don’t know which neighborhood a certain crime happened in. You could search by topic, as well as by category. Also, the homepage will have an RSS feed of local news, and updates on the latest stories posted on the site.
 
This site is not just for people who are interested in crime, but also for those who have to live with it. I want to give readers the most comprehensive information about Chicago crime so that they can keep abreast of what’s going on the city, and stay safe. To provide this information, I would include CLEARpath technology, similar to what the CPD and Everyblock.org uses. There would be a map on each neighborhood page showing what crimes happened there on that day and on previous days. By clicking on that map you could also access street-level web cams that would give you different views of the neighborhood. That way, you could check out a bad area without actually going there. Readers could also sign up to receive a mobile alert every time we report a crime in their chosen area.
 
Obviously, I would also have to have a team of writers and technicians working on this site. Upon launching the site, I would interview and screen employees, making sure to hire a mix of people—reporters, bloggers, cops, lawyers, etc. Most of these employees could work on the site in their spare time, with a core group dedicated to working on it full time.
 
More important than fancy features, my site would not be biased one way or the other—setting it apart from other crime sites. On most sites—like blogs and newspaper Web sites—we only hear one voice, that of the blogger or the reporter or the cop. On my page, we would hear everyone’s voice. This site would give readers the most balanced news on the Web, news that they could trust because they contribute to it.
 
You may ask, “Brenna, why not go national with this?” Well, I’ve thought about it. But I would really want to concentrate on Chi-Town first, in order to build a strong community and substantial audience. Maybe, if this site takes off and achieves its goal, there could be one for each major city in the U.S.