Open data vs Public Data vs Proprietary Data

When talking about crime data, is there a distinction between open, public, and proprietary crime data.

Absolutely.

What is open data?

Open data is data that’s available in a machine readable format without restrictions on the ability to use, consume, or share the information.

Philadelphia and Chicago are good examples of cities that have open crime data available for residents, the press, and anyone to collect, use, and redistribute.

Philadelphia SpotCrime Map

Open crime data is the best option for police agencies. The easier the information is to obtain, the easier it is to get more eyes on the information which, we believe, leads to really cool ways to view the data and, most importantly, leads to safer and more informed neighborhoods.

What is public data?

Public data is data that’s available to the public to collect or look at, but it’s not easily redistributed (or machine readable) and sometimes not easily obtained. It might require an open records request or FOIA in order to obtain the information if it’s not already available on a website. These requests can sometimes be very finicky and can take days to months to garner a response. 

For example, with crime data, Providence, RI falls under public data, but not open data. The Providence PD releases PDFs on their website (PDFs are not machine readable). In Harlingen, TX, it’s required to send a FOIA request whenever you’d like access to crime data.

Public data is not the best option, however it’s a start! Moving from public data to open data would be a pivotal next step for an agency. And, in the case with agencies requiring a lengthy FOIA process for the information, open data has numerous cost savings and benefits for the department.

What is proprietary data?

Proprietary data is data that is claimed ownership by a specific entity or company. We don’t believe there is such a thing as proprietary crime data because crime data is public and it’s created and maintained by public tax dollars.

However, we’ve found that when a police agency partners with a third party vendor to display public information, the vendor will place restrictions or a terms of use on the data controlling how the public and press can use and share the information.

For example, recently Hampton, VA and Columbus, OH decided to roll back their public and open access points to crime data. Hampton used to post PDFs to their website - (this is falls under the ‘public’ category rather than ‘open’ because PDFs are not machine readable). Columbus had a machine readable access point to crime data (this falls under the ‘open’ category).

Both agencies removed their open and public access points and completely replaced them with a proprietary system for delivering crime data to the public. 

SpotCrime, as well as the press and public, no longer have open or public access to this information. You are now required to agree to a lengthy and restrictive terms of use before you can view the public information. 

Proprietary data is an awful choice for police agencies. We’re not saying that the technology the vendors may offer is bad, rather that a police agency relying on and giving preferential access to a vendor to distribute public information is bad. 

Instead, if an agency does make the decision to move to and pay for a vendor, they should also make sure they have available (or create) an open crime data portal or access point for everyone to collect and use the information too.

Does your local police agency release data openly, publicly, or proprietarily? Not sure? Feel free to reach out to us and ask! Feedback@SpotCrime.com We'd love to hear from you.