Meet the Palm Beach Post’s crime data keeper

Julius Whigham II, a crime and public safety reporter with The Palm Beach Post, is one of the creators of the homicides tracker database, which started in 2009. He’s continued to follow crime data to this day.

In this interview, he speaks about how he got his start in journalism, the most surprising thing he has learned while keeping crime data and some patterns in Palm Beach County criminal activity that he has noticed.

A highlight: Whigham explains why it is so important to track and publish crime data as a journalist for a newspaper: (1) it acts as a tool for future news stories, (2) it gives the public easy-to-access information, and (3) it is a way to memorialize each victim.

Maya Washburn is a Caplin News DC bureau summer correspondent studying digital journalism with a concentration in criminal justice at the FIU Honors College. Her primary focus is reporting on previously untold stories, with her writing often involving investigations, underrepresented issues, crime, mental health, education, politics and more.