A view of the Chicago skyline
The Chicago skyline. Reuters

Chicago has launched a database that shows crime statistics from the past decade, the Associated Press has reported.

The database lists addresses, whether there was an arrest, police beats, city wards, and case numbers.

It's a whole new era of openness and transparency, Chicago's chief data officer Brett Goldstein said, the AP reported. You determine your own analysis.

The data will be updated almost daily, according to the city mayor's office.

By posting this data online, we are providing a resource that will significantly impact criminal research while allowing community organizations to more effectively collaborate with the Chicago Police Department and better understand where crime is happening in their neighborhoods, streets and corners, mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a press release.

The data release is meant to be a research tool for community organizations, criminal justice researchers, and others who might be interested in the information provided, such as journalists and city residents.

This type of data is in very high demand from community organizations, and this will forever change lives of the people working in neighborhoods to combat crime because they can target interventions in ways they couldn't before, down to the block and down to the individual crime, President of the Metro Chicago Information Center Virginia Carlson said in the mayor's office press release.