10 ms·

Walking The Beat – Mining Seattle's Police Report Data

86 points by ajiang 12y ago

ajiang 12y ago
Blog post and data mining done by Jeff Wong, one of our data science mentors who is currently a Senior Data Scientist at Netflix. His own blog is at http://jeffreycwong.com http://jeffreycwong.com -- check it out, there are some truly awesome pieces for data scientists.
comrh 12y ago
Awesome. Did the police department release this data willingly or from a FOIA request? I've been trying to get this exact type of data from local police departments but I've never seen it with Lat/Longs and clearance.
- sgk284 12y ago
  The Seattle PD is very open about their data. Every single beat has it's own twitter stream of dispatches (delayed by an hour, for obvious security reasons): http://www.seattle.gov/police/tweets/ http://www.seattle.gov/police/tweets/ Whenever I hear a bunch of sirens driving by, it's great to know that in short order I'll see what was happening in my Twitter feed.
  - jonjenk 12y ago
    It's interesting that they delay the Twitter by an hour. You can get real time 911 info for Seattle here. http://www2.seattle.gov/fire/realtime911/getRecsForDatePub.asp?action=Today&incDate=&rad1=des http://www2.seattle.gov/fire/realtime911/getRecsForDatePub.a...
    - headstorm 12y ago
      afaict from checking that site for years, that's only fire department responders, not police.
    - comrh 12y ago
      Holy crap. Wow I have a serious respect for the Seattle PD now, that is very open. edit: I found out why that one is real time. It isn't Seattle PD but Seattle Fire. (https://twitter.com/SeattlePD/status/502651325117526016 https://twitter.com/SeattlePD/status/502651325117526016)
- ajiang 12y ago
  Hi comrh, Seattle has been really great at releasing data. Not sure whether or not it came from a FOIA request, but I know from working with Joy Bonaguro (Chief Data Officer of San Francisco) that SF has been working with the police department as well to release as much data as possible in leveraging data science to help fight crime. The data from Seattle is located here: https://data.seattle.gov/Public-Safety/Seattle-Police-Department-911-Incident-Response/3k2p-39jp https://data.seattle.gov/Public-Safety/Seattle-Police-Depart... The data from San Francisco is located here: https://data.sfgov.org/Public-Safety/SFPD-Reported-Incidents-2003-to-Present/dyj4-n68b https://data.sfgov.org/Public-Safety/SFPD-Reported-Incidents... I wholeheartedly agree that police data should be available from all cities / counties with the type of detail that SF and Seattle show. Open Data Standards are still not where they need to be. If you're interested in helping civic organizations get there, shoot me a message -- we're actively working with Federal and municipal governments on this.
- cwal37 12y ago
  You can find some data of mixed completeness/usefulness here[1]. Data.gov has gotten much better in terms of usability over the past few years, but it's still a crapshoot, and it's generally more effective to go directly to the agency/organization that you want data from/about. I think it's a great idea though, and I hope it's not the sort of thing that will get neglected or die if there's a party change at the White House level (although I suspect that could easily happen). [1] http://catalog.data.gov/dataset?q=police&sort=score+desc%2C+name+asc http://catalog.data.gov/dataset?q=police&sort=score+desc%2C+...
- ErikRogneby 12y ago
  http://data.seattle.gov http://data.seattle.gov is powered by Socrata. Here is a list of cities that they support: https://opendata.socrata.com/dataset/Socrata-Customer-Spotlights-Cities-Map/ivbs-benj https://opendata.socrata.com/dataset/Socrata-Customer-Spotli...
devindotcom 12y ago
Perhaps data mining will succeed where common sense hasn't in convincing the East Precinct to walk the streets and parks within a couple blocks of the station. Cal Anderson and Pike/Pine are regularly sites of hate crimes, brawls, muggings, and shootings, but I rarely see any on-foot police presence. Seems like it would be easy-mode patrol - grab a coffee, walk outside, and spook a few punks into moving along instead of sticking around.
- sharkweek 12y ago
  Used to work on 3rd and Pine (in the offices above, not slinging on the corner). There were cops there all the time - but honestly, it seemed like they were mostly just maintaining order, not stopping the dealing. The "unofficial" rumor around the city is that the police department worked to corral most dealing into specified locations (think: Hamsterdam) as a part of their containment strategy. Sure they raid it once in a while to nab up some dealers, but I'm still convinced that was just for public appearances.
  - sheltgor 12y ago
    That may not be a bad thing... Work a few blocks over from there and the difference is startling. Having it concentrated in one place where they can keep an eye on it seems to me like it may be a quite effective strategy since it would effectively keep it out of the rest of downtown.
    - sharkweek 12y ago
      I think it's a fantastic strategy; dealers are going to deal SOMEWHERE because they're meeting a massive demand; might as well keep an eye on it and minimize violence(e.g., South Seattle) We've gotten somewhat fortunate though, as the violence hasn't ticked upward much at all in that area due to no turf wars cropping up in such a prominent area. I think the city would be a lot harsher on the area if that changed.
  - kyllo 12y ago
    Yeah that would certainly explain the large number of individuals selling crack in broad daylight around the bus stops on 3rd Ave. I just wish they had chosen to corral the crack dealing somewhere away from the street with all the bus stops on it. It makes it feel unsafe to commute downtown on the bus.
coin 12y ago
"NULL" comes between person down/injury and robbery.

86 points by ajiang 12y ago

Blog post and data mining done by Jeff Wong, one of our data science mentors who is currently a Senior Data Scientist at Netflix. His own blog is at http://jeffreycwong.com http://jeffreycwong.com -- check it out, there are some truly awesome pieces for data scientists.

comrh 12y ago

Awesome. Did the police department release this data willingly or from a FOIA request? I've been trying to get this exact type of data from local police departments but I've never seen it with Lat/Longs and clearance.

sgk284 12y ago
The Seattle PD is very open about their data. Every single beat has it's own twitter stream of dispatches (delayed by an hour, for obvious security reasons): http://www.seattle.gov/police/tweets/ http://www.seattle.gov/police/tweets/ Whenever I hear a bunch of sirens driving by, it's great to know that in short order I'll see what was happening in my Twitter feed.
- jonjenk 12y ago
  It's interesting that they delay the Twitter by an hour. You can get real time 911 info for Seattle here. http://www2.seattle.gov/fire/realtime911/getRecsForDatePub.asp?action=Today&incDate=&rad1=des http://www2.seattle.gov/fire/realtime911/getRecsForDatePub.a...
  - headstorm 12y ago
    afaict from checking that site for years, that's only fire department responders, not police.
  - comrh 12y ago
    Holy crap. Wow I have a serious respect for the Seattle PD now, that is very open. edit: I found out why that one is real time. It isn't Seattle PD but Seattle Fire. (https://twitter.com/SeattlePD/status/502651325117526016 https://twitter.com/SeattlePD/status/502651325117526016)
ajiang 12y ago
Hi comrh, Seattle has been really great at releasing data. Not sure whether or not it came from a FOIA request, but I know from working with Joy Bonaguro (Chief Data Officer of San Francisco) that SF has been working with the police department as well to release as much data as possible in leveraging data science to help fight crime. The data from Seattle is located here: https://data.seattle.gov/Public-Safety/Seattle-Police-Department-911-Incident-Response/3k2p-39jp https://data.seattle.gov/Public-Safety/Seattle-Police-Depart... The data from San Francisco is located here: https://data.sfgov.org/Public-Safety/SFPD-Reported-Incidents-2003-to-Present/dyj4-n68b https://data.sfgov.org/Public-Safety/SFPD-Reported-Incidents... I wholeheartedly agree that police data should be available from all cities / counties with the type of detail that SF and Seattle show. Open Data Standards are still not where they need to be. If you're interested in helping civic organizations get there, shoot me a message -- we're actively working with Federal and municipal governments on this.
cwal37 12y ago
You can find some data of mixed completeness/usefulness here[1]. Data.gov has gotten much better in terms of usability over the past few years, but it's still a crapshoot, and it's generally more effective to go directly to the agency/organization that you want data from/about. I think it's a great idea though, and I hope it's not the sort of thing that will get neglected or die if there's a party change at the White House level (although I suspect that could easily happen). [1] http://catalog.data.gov/dataset?q=police&sort=score+desc%2C+name+asc http://catalog.data.gov/dataset?q=police&sort=score+desc%2C+...
ErikRogneby 12y ago
http://data.seattle.gov http://data.seattle.gov is powered by Socrata. Here is a list of cities that they support: https://opendata.socrata.com/dataset/Socrata-Customer-Spotlights-Cities-Map/ivbs-benj https://opendata.socrata.com/dataset/Socrata-Customer-Spotli...

devindotcom 12y ago

Perhaps data mining will succeed where common sense hasn't in convincing the East Precinct to walk the streets and parks within a couple blocks of the station. Cal Anderson and Pike/Pine are regularly sites of hate crimes, brawls, muggings, and shootings, but I rarely see any on-foot police presence. Seems like it would be easy-mode patrol - grab a coffee, walk outside, and spook a few punks into moving along instead of sticking around.

sharkweek 12y ago
Used to work on 3rd and Pine (in the offices above, not slinging on the corner). There were cops there all the time - but honestly, it seemed like they were mostly just maintaining order, not stopping the dealing. The "unofficial" rumor around the city is that the police department worked to corral most dealing into specified locations (think: Hamsterdam) as a part of their containment strategy. Sure they raid it once in a while to nab up some dealers, but I'm still convinced that was just for public appearances.
- sheltgor 12y ago
  That may not be a bad thing... Work a few blocks over from there and the difference is startling. Having it concentrated in one place where they can keep an eye on it seems to me like it may be a quite effective strategy since it would effectively keep it out of the rest of downtown.
  - sharkweek 12y ago
    I think it's a fantastic strategy; dealers are going to deal SOMEWHERE because they're meeting a massive demand; might as well keep an eye on it and minimize violence(e.g., South Seattle) We've gotten somewhat fortunate though, as the violence hasn't ticked upward much at all in that area due to no turf wars cropping up in such a prominent area. I think the city would be a lot harsher on the area if that changed.
- kyllo 12y ago
  Yeah that would certainly explain the large number of individuals selling crack in broad daylight around the bus stops on 3rd Ave. I just wish they had chosen to corral the crack dealing somewhere away from the street with all the bus stops on it. It makes it feel unsafe to commute downtown on the bus.

coin 12y ago

"NULL" comes between person down/injury and robbery.