The Great Baltimore Fire and Open Crime Data
This may be a stretch, but we’ve been thinking about how the great Baltimore Fire and access to crime data are related.
The Great Baltimore Fire spanned over two days in February of 1904. It took the effort of 1,231 firefighters from 4 different cities to bring the fire under control that destroyed over 1,500 buildings in central Baltimore. At the time, there were no set standards in the fire equipment used by fire departments nation wide. Therefore, the fire lasted for 31 hours because the departments that assisted the Baltimore Fire Department had hose couplings that could not fit Baltimore's hydrants.
The Great Baltimore Fire spanned over two days in February of 1904. It took the effort of 1,231 firefighters from 4 different cities to bring the fire under control that destroyed over 1,500 buildings in central Baltimore. At the time, there were no set standards in the fire equipment used by fire departments nation wide. Therefore, the fire lasted for 31 hours because the departments that assisted the Baltimore Fire Department had hose couplings that could not fit Baltimore's hydrants.
Similarly, when a police department uses proprietary data distribution, it prevents others from hooking up and helping. The data is supplied (like the water) but the manner in which the data is displayed (the hose couplings) is different. Proprietary data distribution prevents others from using and publicizing the data, further hindering the message to the public. With less accessibility, less people get reached.
Here at SpotCrime, we are committed to helping put a dent into crime. Our goal is to map as many cities and reach as many residents as we can. But in cities that use proprietary systems or no system, we are unable to help. We’d prefer not to standby and watch things burn, particularly when method of distribution (our hose) seems to be one of the most effective methods in reaching more people.
Recently, a Santa Monica-based think tank, Rand Corp, had to retract a study because the data they accessed was incomplete. Rand had used crime data to draw a conclusion about pot clinics and crime rates in Los Angeles. Currently, public crime data is not fully open in Los Angeles preventing companies like Rand from performing accurate research. The source Rand chose to utilize for the study no longer had access to LAPD crime data. Rand was unaware that the LAPD had chosen to move from one proprietary system to another, and simply assumed the first site mapped crime in both the County and City.
The parallel between the Great Baltimore Fire and the Rand Corp incident shows the importance of standardization and open access. After the Great Baltimore fire was extinguished, standards were created to make US hose couplings similar. A public crime data initiative should be set making Police Departments (not third parties) in charge of supplying crime data to the public, preferably in a spreadsheet format that is easily found on the department’s website. This way, any person or news entity has the ability to map data and distribute it to the public. No one entity should be able to restrict the use or access of public crime data.
At SpotCrime we’d like to hook up our hose to any crime data source available and spread it to as many people as possible - believing that this is the true purpose of public crime mapping - informing as much of the public as possible. We also believe that any sort of artificial restrictions on access could impede safety by limiting the reach of the information. Let’s stop data discrimination and give the information to everyone.
Help us douse crime by making crime data fully public to everyone.
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