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Leading With Data, Socrata Brings Police And Communities Together In A New Relationship Of Trust And Collaboration
[February 04, 2016]

Leading With Data, Socrata Brings Police And Communities Together In A New Relationship Of Trust And Collaboration


Socrata (www.socrata.com), the global leader in software solutions designed exclusively for data-driven digital government, today announced the availability the new Socrata for Public Safety, an open data platform for police departments.

"From the White House to police departments to individual citizens, there is recognition that data-centered police-community relations will better meet the needs of both the police and those they serve," said Kevin Merritt, CEO and Founder of Socrata. "Transparency is the foundation of trust and ultimately engagement. In the past year we have witnessed a complete shift with many police departments today embracing data transparency as the foundation to enhancing, or in some cases restoring trust.

"Police departments today are scrutinized by the actions of a few bad actors. When shared with context, balance and perspective, crime incident and agency operational data can offer a more accurate view of how a department as a whole is performing; it can make a community much more aware of the good work most police organizations and officers are doing. This is an important element of starting a productive discourse. Data also is incredibly helpful for helping public safety agencies look internally and operate more efficiently."

Making policing data widely available reinforces community partnerships, equips the public with real-time data, and allows police departments to define and achieve operational goals more effectively. Socrata for Public Safety helps police departments and other organizations:

  • Build trust and engage the community by sharing meaningful infrmation and stories about public service activities
  • Share real-time data in context so that information is not misconstrued or manipulated by others
  • Define metrics and goals that can be measured with real data, not subjective judgments
  • Be accountable externally or internally for departmental progress towards goals



The White House created the Task Force on 21st Century Policing in the wake of rising tension in communities across the country, and identified using data and technology to improve transparency into police activity and build trust as a primary recommendation. To achieve this, the White House launched the Police Data Initiative (PDI) to fill the vacuum of accurate data, build transparency, increase community trust, and improve internal police department accountability and effective data analysis. More than 75% of the cities participating in the White House Police Data Initiative are already working with Socrata.

Tom Manger, Chief of Police, Montgomery Count, MD, added: "Police departments understand that to earn the trust and confidence of the communities that we serve, we need to be accountable and transparent. The more information we put out there, the more opportunity the public has to have that confidence in their police department."


To learn more about Socrata for Public Safety, visit Socrata for Public Safety. For an example of how police departments are using data, view this video of Chief Manger discussing Montgomery County's open data perspective.

ABOUT SOCRATA

Socrata is the global leader in software solutions that are designed exclusively for digital government, delivering unprecedented data-driven innovation and cost savings for hundreds of public sector leaders and millions of their constituents around the world. Built on an affordable, cloud-based, Software as a Service (SaaS (News - Alert)) platform, Socrata equips governments, public safety and law enforcement agencies and NGOs of every size to rapidly transform outdated and expensive data access models, Web sites and legacy applications into intuitive, visually rich, intelligent consumer-grade apps and user experiences that can now be enriched and sustained by real-time government data, perhaps the most economically powerful public asset in history. To learn more about Socrata, visit www.socrata.com.


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