Open Crime Data Resources
We’ve put together a list of open crime data resources for anyone interested.
Our hope is these resources will help answer questions like how, what, why, and how much. Or any other questions that may be thrown your way.
Crime Data related resources
SpotCrime Open Crime Data Standard (SOCS)
http://blog.spotcrime.com/2014/03/the-spotcrime-open-crime-data-standard.html
We’re a bit biased with this one, but we’ve received feedback from agencies across the country. Overall feedback has been great and we’ve found if agencies don’t follow SOCS completely, it has been a good starting point for open crime data initiatives. Agencies like Montgomery County (MD) and NORCOM (Seattle area) utilize SOCS.
http://blog.spotcrime.com/2014/03/the-spotcrime-open-crime-data-standard.html
We’re a bit biased with this one, but we’ve received feedback from agencies across the country. Overall feedback has been great and we’ve found if agencies don’t follow SOCS completely, it has been a good starting point for open crime data initiatives. Agencies like Montgomery County (MD) and NORCOM (Seattle area) utilize SOCS.
Public Safety Open Data Portal Police Data Initiative
The White House Task Force on 21st Century Policing launched in 2014 and kick started the Police Data Initiative - an initiative encouraging police agencies to be open and transparent with crime data. The portal is run by The Police Foundation who notes ‘Open data improves transparency, accountability, and legitimacy, enhancing the relationship between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve and protect, while encouraging innovation and supporting science.’
The Sunlight Foundation
This is a good resource on learning more about benefits, use, and progression of open crime data across the US. The Sunlight Foundation is nonpartisan nonprofit that advocates for open government globally and uses technology to make government more accountable to all. They've also partnered with the White House Task Force on 21st Century Policing Police Data Initiative and curate the Hall of Justice, a searchable inventory of publicly available criminal justice datasets and research.
Code For America
A network of people who build government services that are simple, effective, and easy to use, for everyone.
US City Open Data Census
A partnership between Sunlight Foundation, Code for America, and the Open Knowledge Foundation to keep track of open data in the US. Check out their crime column to see which cities are open with crime data.
SpotCrime Testimony on MD Open Data Bill
We were asked to speak on the Maryland Open Data Bill (SB 644) in 2014 to highlight the economic incentives for communities to make data open. The bill passed in that same year. We also get asked back to speak at the MD Council on Open Data periodically to share our experiences with access to crime data. It’s been a pretty cool experience. See our last presentation at one of the meetings here.
Other resources (general open data)
JHU Gov Ex best practices
OpenPrism
OpenPrism is a search engine that allows you to search a multitude of open data portals across the world all at once.
Philly Open Data resources
Philly has been open with crime data for years.
San Francisco Open Data portal blog
San Fran is another city that has been open with crime data since SpotCrime was founded in 2007.
The Open Data 500
SpotCrime is a featured company
GovTech 100
SpotCrime is a featured company
SpotCrime Open Data Twitter feed (via our open data Pinterest board)
Twitter: @OpenDataSptCrme
Pinterest: SpotCrime Open Data Board
We pin and tweet whenever we come across an interesting article about open data.
Are we missing something? Let us know and we'll add it to the list!
Are we missing something? Let us know and we'll add it to the list!
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