e_d_e_v_at

I think there is another issue at stake, which is failure to report on the ground level. For many crime statistics, local precinct data is likely used. And this is also anecdote, but having lived in a transitional neighborhood, where police-community relationships have not improved, underreporting is rampant, and everyone is complicit. Criminals/low income folks don't want the hassle of police intervention. Police precincts want low numbers so that they can prove they are working effectively. Residents who might actually be interested in police intervention have the competing incentive that lower crime rates positively impact housing values. All that to say "objective measures" are hard in the cases where they are possible.

Man, the definition of big problems has really changed over the years.

I believe the program you're looking for is Certificate Transparency. To be honest, write-permanently databases have been around for a while (for example pgp keyservers that peer and distribute keys relatively quickly). Basically, it is a problem unsolved except by having seriously smart people who do this stuff for its own sake, hacking at the data directly, and are distributed across and able to effectively communicate from many jurisdictions.

Maybe I'm mistaken, but I feel like SF and NY have the same thing going on. NY has the Boroughs, SF has distinct neighborhoods that have their own feel. That said, I could travel through all of Downtown, Midtown, and Buckhead in a given day (in fact, have bicycled through all of them in the span of a couple hours). Eating, dining, or visiting friends in any of these doesn't feel any more distant than a trip on one of the other Metros. Frankly, I don't want or think Atlanta should have "one identitiy". It's a melting pot, and I hope it stays that way.