Roanoke residents who want to know if crime is happening in their neighborhood could have a harder time getting complete information from the city's Web site.

City police earlier this fall removed a list of crime incidents from their Web site. They re-posted it last week, but without the quadrant designations -- Southeast, Southwest, Northeast and Northwest -- that had specified where the crimes happened.

It is the latest example of a reluctance by some city officials to provide the most precise information about where crimes are occurring. And it could cause confusion in a city where numerous streets cross quadrants and where one street may have two 600 blocks.

Under a directive from City Manager Darlene Burcham, officials are not allowed to provide quadrant designations in news releases reporting crimes or fires.

To include the quadrant portion of the street names, Burcham reasons, could fuel negative racial and socioeconomic perceptions about certain areas of the city.

The city administration prefers to think of Roanoke as one community, she said, and believes that dividing it into quadrants would create barriers.

Some residents, neighborhood leaders and city council members agree that such perceptions exist but say that city officials should be more open about where crimes are happening so people are aware of the dangers around them.

"We just kind of think it's silly," said Kara Smith, president of Old Southwest Inc., a group that has taken a hard line against crime. "We just want to know so we can be aware of what's going on in our neighborhood."

Smith said members of the neighborhood group receive police news releases electronically but can't always tell if the crimes are happening in their area.

For example, a news release might report a robbery in the 300 block of Eighth Street. But there is a 300 block of Eighth Street Southwest, a 300 block of Eighth Street Southeast and a 300 block of Eighth Street Northwest.

Smith found fault with Burcham's rationale that giving the quadrants perpetuates negative perceptions.

"I don't think that argument holds water either," she said. "Every area of the city is so ethnically mixed."

City spokeswoman Melinda Mayo said the directive has been in effect since Burcham became city manager about eight years ago, but that it hasn't always been followed by every city department.

Over the past year, the city also has scaled back its distribution of crime-related news releases. Residents used to be able to request crime information through myRoanoke, a program that provides city announcements by e-mail.

About a year ago, the quadrant part of the addresses disappeared from those e-mails. Later, police stopped reporting crimes through myRoanoke. Now, the police department sends news releases to the media and posts them on its Web site.

Burcham has asked police to provide the quadrant to news reporters who request clarification.

A document explaining Burcham's position provided to The Roanoke Times adds that "we do not want citizens to show up at the scene of an accident or crime and interfere with police or fire operations."

The document also asserts that the city's quadrant system is a post office designation that was not established by the city.

Postal officials say that isn't true, noting that the city is responsible for naming streets and erecting street signs -- which include the quadrant.

According to "A History of the City of Roanoke" by Raymond Barnes, the city adopted the quadrant designations in 1888 to alleviate confusion. A document included in the city's 1907 comprehensive plan also references a quadrant system.

Asked to explain the conflicting information, Mayo said Burcham was told when she first came to Roanoke that the quadrants were post office designations.

Despite Burcham's dislike for the quadrant system, the police department patrols by zones that are loosely based on the city's quadrants.

City dispatchers use quadrants when calling police or firefighters to a particular address.

Lives could be at risk if police responded to the 1200 block of Campbell Avenue Southwest when an emergency instead was happening in the 1200 block of Campbell Avenue in Southeast Roanoke, said John Powers, who coordinates the city's 911 system. Responding officers would be 24 blocks from the crisis.

Some neighborhood leaders and city council members said that the need to let people know where crimes are happening should outweigh concerns about geographic perceptions.

"You always want to err on the side of providing more information for citizens until it impacts ongoing police works," said city council member Gwen Mason. "If a crime has been committed, the city has an obligation to our citizens to be forthcoming about that in the most transparent way possible."

Clarice Walker, president of the Loudon-Melrose Neighborhood Organization, says she can see both sides of it. "Northwest already has a bad connotation in people's mind," she said.

Walker also sits on a city council-appointed committee that has requested that the city provide additional information about crime in specific neighborhoods. She adds, though, that the police officers who give such information at the Loudon-Melrose meetings are "pretty upfront" with such data.

Kathy Hill, president of Riverland/Walnut Hill neighborhood group in Southeast Roanoke, said she supports Burcham's stand and also praised police for keeping her informed.

If there are crimes going on that residents need to know about, Hill said, the police will tell her and she'll get the word out.

Data delivery editor Matt Chittum contributed to this report.