SpotCrime - The Public's Crime Map

In recent years, the transition from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) system to the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) has been hailed as a major upgrade in crime data collection. NIBRS offers more granular, detailed reporting compared to UCR’s summary-based approach. But while the benefits sound promising on paper, in practice we’re seeing a troubling side effect: timely, block level incident crime data is slowing down—or disappearing entirely—from public view and access. Is NIBRS to Blame? The NIBRS transition is not the only factor, but it's a significant one. Unlike UCR, which focused on counting major offenses, NIBRS demands more detail and structure. That means departments must invest in costly software upgrades, retrain staff, and restructure internal workflows. These changes introduce delays—and in some cases, departments decide it's easier to stop releasing data altogether rather than deal with the complexity. Adding to the issue is that many of th...

Police chief transparency, the future of police reform, police profiling, officer training, five years after Breonna Taylor's death, fight against gun violence showing promise, ghost gun bans, navigating predictive policing challenges, drone policies, body cams, future proofing justice, and more... POLICE CONDUCT Their police chiefs were forced out. Now these residents want transparency  (Las Vegas Review Journal) Trump Is Backing Away From Police Reform. Here’s What That Means for 12 Places.  (The Marshall Project) Assaults on NYPD officers have skyrocketed in subways, MTA says  (Gothamist) N.J. police chief accused of turning department into 'Animal House'  (NBC News) Akron residents concerned about safety, police profiling. Here's how we can fix it | Opinion  (Akron Beacon Journal) Eye On Safety: Moore Police Chief addresses officer training after stunning body cam footage  (News on 6) Five Years After Breonna Taylor’s Death, What’s Changed?  (Essen...

Henderson police chief fired, Columbus underreported crime, smart policing, holistic approach to crime, high risk violent offenders, body cam footage fees, predictive analytics, crime data in social media, automated license plate readers, asset forfeiture, trust in community police interactions, prison, and more... POLICE CONDUCT Henderson police chief fired after ultimatum  (8 News Now) Maui police chief named in Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs lawsuit as alleged co-conspirator  (Hawaii News Now) Columbus police’s underreported crime data taking longer to fix than expected  (NBC4) The Smart Policing Initiative: 15 Years of Evidence-Based Innovation in Policing Practice  (Taylor and Francis Online) CRIME RATE A Holistic Approach to Explaining Crime  (Taylor and Francis Online) 'This narrative that Austin is dangerous is not accurate' | Police chief pushes back against bill to extend DPS enforcement downtown  (KVUE) Policing High-Risk Violent Offenders: Smart Policing in...

Los Angeles, one of the largest cities in the U.S., has long provided public access to crime data through its open data portal. However, a troubling shift has been unfolding, raising serious concerns about transparency, public safety awareness, and accountability. The LAPD’s transition to a new Records Management System (RMS) and the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) has resulted in significant gaps in crime data reporting, with updates becoming increasingly sporadic or ceasing altogether. The Problem: Crime Data No Longer Updating Regularly Historically, LAPD updated its crime data feed on a weekly basis but changed to biweekly updates in early 2024 . However, as of early 2025, the department appears to have stopped updating its primary dataset entirely. The most recent available crime data from the “Crime Data from 2020 to Present” dataset stopped at December 30, 2024 , but has since resumed biweekly updates. However, these updates now contain only a few incidents p...

Citizen feedback for police, police chases, police misconduct and disciplinary records, police staffing levels, body cam policies, cyber attacks, gun locks. license plate readers, police surveillance, convictions transparency, LAPD crime data transparency, asset forfeiture, jail population dashboard, juvenile prison, and more... POLICE CONDUCT Milwaukee residents were surveyed on the city's police. Here's the main takeaways  (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) see also:  'Together We Ball:' Milwaukee police, community build connections  (Fox 6 Milwuakee) Police chases can be deadly — but most states including Texas don't even track them  (KERA News) National database tracking federal police misconduct 'no longer active' after Trump revokes Biden order  (WHAS 11) see also:  RPD must publicly release misconduct, disciplinary records, N.Y. Court of Appeals says  (Spectrum News) Alabama cities would have to disclose police staffing levels under bill that passes H...

The SpotCrime Crime Data Transparency Ranking was established in 2013 to assess how openly cities share crime data. We periodically update the ranking to reflect the evolving landscape of open crime data. With the increasing use of AI in policing, ensuring public access to this data is more critical than ever. AI models are only as reliable as the data they are built on. Continuous monitoring using open data helps identify and correct biases in real time, ensuring these models evolve to be more equitable. Scoring System: 0, 1, 2 The scoring system remains unchanged since our 2020 update. Score of 2 : Awarded only if the data is openly and timely published on an open data portal . "Open" means data is available for download in a machine-readable format, accessible to anyone for use and sharing. A dedicated portal and feed improve data discoverability. Open data portals often include documentation and contact information, ensuring transparency and accountability. Open data al...