This is a blog about public safety data. The purpose is to highlight some useful online resources that shed light on public safety services.
I’ve studied numerous public safety departments since 2008. To me, public safety includes:
- law enforcement agencies (police, sheriff, etc.)
- fire departments,
- and emergency services (aka ambulances).
For some, public safety doesn’t include ambulance services, but these are often combined within a fire department.
This blog has some guiding principles.
- Primarily Public Safety: Posts will likely be limited to data describing these agencies, but may occasionally discuss other large public data sets of interest.
- US-Centric: I’m mostly familiar with local agencies within the United States. For now, that’s where the blog will focus.
- Data Not News or Opinion: At its best, data prepares people to make informed decisions. It doesn’t make the decisions for them. I’ll try not to offer my opinions on issues or comment on recent news items.
- Some Data News: The only timely references will inform readers about newly released data and/or new data tools.