Community Policing | Increase Police Accountability & Build Community Trust

Community policing reimagined

Past and current policing practices have led to the inequitable treatment of communities of color, which has eroded public trust and created questions regarding the legitimacy of law enforcement. GIS can provide a foundation for re-establishing trust and accountability between police and the communities they serve. Law enforcement agencies can jump-start racial justice and police reform efforts through a variety of maps and apps that share current crime data with the public, demonstrate accountability when use-of-force incidents occur, promote greater diversity in the workforce, and engage the community in initiatives designed to improve policing services and attain more equitable outcomes.

Communicate crime conditions

Access timely, accurate information about historic crime trends and current problems in the community via public maps and dashboards that help keep citizens informed. Public crime maps can be filtered by crime type, date range, or area of interest. Generate custom self-service reports to facilitate community action meetings and improve the overall awareness of ongoing crime problems.

A laptop displaying a¬ public crime map in Naperville, Illinois that shows types of crime incidents represented by different icons

Share data about use of force

Help the community understand police use-of-force incidents. Communicate information through dashboards that help the public and racial justice stakeholders discover how and why police have used force, learn about the communities and groups of people most impacted by these incidents, and understand racial disparities. Dashboard users can also explore the race and ethnicity of the officers and subjects involved in use-of-force incidents, examine how these incidents relate to community demographics, and use filters to sort incidents by neighborhood, incident type, or individual police officers. To further enhance communication, police departments can create online surveys that provide feedback about the community’s interactions with officers.

A laptop displaying a dashboard with information on use of force by neighborhood that includes a map, legend, and two bar graphs Image: Community engagement

Encourage community engagement

Racial justice can’t be achieved in a vacuum. Police must build strong partnerships with the community to proactively address systemic racism. GIS can help promote community-focused policing initiatives with tools that allow citizens to connect with police, report quality of life issues, and foster collaboration with police officers through dedicated problem-solving groups. These tools can also help drive racial justice initiatives, monitor the status of ongoing efforts, and provide feedback to departments about the overall success of initiatives.

A laptop displaying a map of Naperville, Illinois with an area outlined in black and dialog box that shows information for the officer that patrols that area

Support police diversity

Many police departments are striving to become more diverse and better reflect the communities they serve. These departments recognize that diversity among police officers can build trust with the community and enhance their understanding of the problems that communities of color face. Esri’s tools can help agencies become more transparent about their hiring practices and overall demographics. Use dashboards to reveal where agencies can make improvements in recruiting, hiring, and promoting officers that reflect the diversity of the communities they serve.

A laptop displaying statistics on personnel diversity by race, gender, and residency

Publish open data

Data is foundational to police transparency and accountability. Agencies can use GIS tools to publish information and authoritative agency data including crime and incident data, jurisdictional boundaries, general orders, annual reports, and any other key performance indicators that can help foster open, transparent policing.

A laptop displaying a search portal for law enforcement datasets with options to explore crime and incidents, boundaries, documents, and police operations

Police Transparency

The Police Transparency solution helps you share information openly with the public, promote your agency’s work, demonstrate accountability when force is used, illustrate workforce recruiting that reflects the diversity of the community, and engage the public to improve policing services and solve problems.

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The Racial Equity Anchor Collaborative

Learn how the collaborative is using GIS to map policing budgets and inform ongoing investments in public safety.

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ArcGIS Hub

ArcGIS Hub helps you work together with internal and external stakeholders to track progress, improve outcomes, and create vibrant communities.

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ArcGIS Online

The secure, cloud-based ArcGIS Online allows you and your team to share maps and apps, collaborate, and analyze data anytime, anywhere.

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ArcGIS Dashboards

Use intuitive and interactive data visualizations to present location-based analytics on one screen. Quickly make informed decisions, visualize trends, monitor status in real time, and inform communities.

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ArcGIS Survey123

Easily create powerful surveys, analyze answers in real time, and share results with stakeholders.

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