SpotCrime API — Frequently Asked Questions

Annual billing is available and saves up to 30%. See API pricing for full details.

If you are building an initial integration and expect low to moderate query volume during development and early launch, the Developer plan ($199/mo, 500 calls) is the appropriate starting point. You can upgrade to Pro or Enterprise at any time as your volume grows.

After your access request is approved and payment is confirmed, your API key will be delivered within 7 business days. All applications are reviewed to verify intended use before credentials are issued.

Yes. Every SpotCrime API key is bound to one or more static IP addresses for security. Requests from unregistered IPs are rejected. You must provide at least one static IP before your key is issued. If your production infrastructure is still being built, that’s fine — we just need the static IP on file before the key goes live. You can update your registered IPs at any time by contacting us. See the Static IP Guide for options including cloud NAT, VPN egress, and ISP-assigned addresses.

The /crimes.json endpoint returns recent crime incidents near a given latitude/longitude, including crime type (Shooting, Assault, Robbery, Burglary, Theft, Arson, Vandalism, Arrest, Other), latitude/longitude coordinates, date and timestamp, and a description. Data is structured as JSON. All incident types are included on all paid plans.

Developer and Pro (monthly): rolling 90-day window. Pro (annual): 6-month historical lookback. Enterprise: full historical access — bulk archives delivered via AWS S3 in all standard formats.

Whether the current /crimes.json response includes originating-agency identifiers or source URLs for individual incidents is a data-format question that depends on the current API version. Contact us at Feedback@spotcrime.com for a definitive answer on what provenance fields are available on your plan.

Data refreshes approximately every 15 minutes from police department feeds, 911 data, and verified public sources across 22,000+ U.S. cities.

All 50 U.S. states. Metro areas have near-complete coverage. Rural areas are supplemented with FBI UCR data. Over 500 million crime records across 22,000+ cities.

Yes. All paid plans include a commercial use license. You may integrate SpotCrime data into your product or service (your "Third Party Application"), provided that your application adds material additional functionality beyond the SpotCrime data itself. You may not replicate or replace the SpotCrime Service. Enterprise plans include white-labeling rights.

Yes, during your active subscription. You may aggregate, summarize, and present SpotCrime data to your authorized Users. However, "SpotCrime Data and Content" as defined in the license includes derived data — meaning aggregated outputs, summaries, and conclusions you create from SpotCrime records are subject to the same license terms, including the deletion requirement upon cancellation.

Yes, provided the data is stored on computers or servers you own or control, and you make each User's data available only to that User (or to others that User has authorized for group sharing).

No. You may not distribute or sublicense SpotCrime Data and Content to a third party for their use in a different service. SpotCrime data must be presented to end users through your own application.

The standard Developer and Pro licenses do not permit sending SpotCrime data — raw or derived — into an LLM or other AI/ML system. This includes:

• Training or fine-tuning models on SpotCrime data
• Building AI datasets from SpotCrime records
• Using SpotCrime data as input to an LLM, even solely for presentation/rephrasing purposes

If you want to use an LLM purely at inference time to rephrase already-derived findings (not raw SpotCrime records), that would require a separate written arrangement tied to a specific zero-retention, no-training endpoint with written attestation. It cannot be approved under the standard Developer or Pro plan.

Contact us at Feedback@spotcrime.com to discuss AI/LLM use cases.

Upon cancellation or termination, you must:

1. Cease all use of the SpotCrime API and SpotCrime Data and Content immediately.
2. Delete and permanently destroy all copies of SpotCrime Data and Content from all computers, servers, databases, backups, and other storage media — including all derived or aggregated data (incident counts, category summaries, trend analyses, etc.).
3. Certify in writing (upon SpotCrime’s request) that the deletion has occurred.

There is a narrow exception for end-user copies: if you delivered a standalone artifact to an authorized User (e.g., a downloaded PDF report, an emailed briefing), and that artifact now resides on that User’s own device or storage, that User’s copy may remain under the license’s continuing-use provision — solely for that User’s own internal purposes.

The conditions:

• The copy must already be on the User’s own device/storage (not on your platform)
• You may not re-import, re-index, crawl, or otherwise pull that data back into your platform after cancellation
• This applies to the end user’s copy only — your platform-side data must still be fully deleted

No. The license defines "SpotCrime Data and Content" to include all derived data, conclusions, and information created from SpotCrime data. This means platform-level outputs — incident counts, category breakdowns, trend scores, safety ratings, or any other analysis built from SpotCrime records — must be deleted from your servers, databases, and backups upon cancellation.

SpotCrime does not issue refunds — partial or full — for any reason, including early cancellation, unused API calls, or service dissatisfaction. API calls are "use or lose" each billing period and do not roll over.

Send written notice of cancellation to Feedback@spotcrime.com from the email address associated with your account, including your account name and API Key identifier. Notice requirements:

• Monthly subscriptions: At least 10 calendar days before the next monthly renewal
• Annual subscriptions: At least 20 calendar days before the end of the current annual term

You retain API access through the end of your paid period.

Yes. You must display SpotCrime Marks in accordance with SpotCrime's trademark guidelines whenever you display SpotCrime Data and Content. SpotCrime Marks may not be displayed near third-party content in a way that implies SpotCrime endorses or is associated with that content.

No. You may not use SpotCrime Marks, or any confusingly similar marks, as part of your trade name, logos, trademarks, or other identifiers.

JSON. All endpoints return structured JSON with crime type, coordinates, and timestamp. UTF-8 encoding over HTTPS.

Yes. Endpoints that return many results use cursor-based pagination (next_cursor in the response, cursor query parameter on the next request). Hard cap of 50 results per call on /crimes.json.

Developer: 60 requests/minute. Pro: 300 requests/minute. Enterprise: custom. 429 responses include a Retry-After header.

No. API calls are "use or lose" for each billing period. Unused calls from one month do not carry over to the next.

Pro: 99.9% uptime SLA. Enterprise: 99.99% with dedicated infrastructure.

You must maintain standard server logs of all API usage for at least 90 days. SpotCrime may extend this period by written notice if conducting an investigation.

Yes. SpotCrime reserves the right to monitor your use of the API, API Keys, and services for any reason, including to verify compliance with the license agreement.