The Boulder Police Department rolled out new public safety dashboards earlier this month with the intent of providing transparent data to the community. There is a “crime blotter” dashboard that provides details on recent police reports, including the time, location, case number, and a brief description of the interaction. There is a dashboard for “police call data” that shows the latest calls the BPD has received with a simple category code. Some examples include trespassing, domestic disturbance, fraud, and sex assault.
There are additional dashboards for reported crimes, traffic crashes, use of force, stolen bicycles, contact data, drone service calls, and code enforcement. The home page for the public safety dashboards states that “information on dashboards is provided for transparency and convenience.” The police department encourages individuals who would like more details about specific cases to submit a report.
The page also includes a “Note to Media,” which states that “some information may change over time as we gain more clarity about specific circumstances. Please verify all information, either through the Public Information Officer, or by requesting the report, prior to printing or broadcasting public safety information.”
The BPD Facebook page included a statement from Police Chief Steve Redfearn about the new dashboards. “In line with our commitment to transparency and our Reimagine Policing Plan, I am excited that we are adding the Use of Force and Contact Stop Data dashboards to our existing set of dashboards and portals,” he said.
The Facebook post draws attention to the use of force dashboard and data. The use of force definition varies by police department. BPD defines it as “any physical strike, physical contact with an object or tool or any significant physical contact that restricts movement of a person…. Based on the data, Boulder Police officer use of force circumstances are rare, and this is displayed in relation to arrests and interactions with community members. More than 99.5% of dispatch-recorded interactions do not involve a use of force. More than 9 out of 10 arrests do not involve police use of force.”
There is also a contact data dashboard that shows in-person interactions with police officers including consensual and nonconsensual encounters. “Current data shows that the typical suspect of a crime contacted by BPD is a white, non-Hispanic male who’s about 30 years old and that officers are typically contacting the person because of a response to unlawful activity; the unlawful activity is most commonly trespassing; and officers most commonly issue a warning,” BPD said.
The BPD said that comparisons of demographic data are not necessarily accurate because not everyone contacted by the BPD is necessarily a resident of Boulder. The department is asking users to report any issues with the dashboards, and to provide feedback or suggestions.
