As a region, we have made great strides in reducing domestic violence and sexual assault. To continue this effort, the Orlando Police Department hosted a Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Data Preview Event with our advocacy and tech community partners along with White House representatives.
At the event, we were able to gain an understanding of how police data can be useful in supporting our local advocacy community’s efforts to prevent and reduce domestic violence and sexual assault while building relationships between advocates, our police officers and the local tech community.
Representatives from the White House and the Department of Justice were also in attendance. The Orlando Police Department was the first agency in the country to release this type of data as part of the White House’s Police Data Initiative and is the only agency in Florida participating in the initiative. The initiative is focused on building community trust and using technology and data to make community policing more effective and accountable.
The attendees broke out into groups and spent time analyzing the data to understand how it can be useful and also identify ways we can improve our data, highlighting both how the data can help advocates in their work and also actions that need to be taken to continue to protect the privacy of victims.
For example, the advocates were interested in learning that a large number of domestic violence calls are called in from people in vehicles. This allows the advocacy groups to begin to look at how to align resources and education to ensure that those victims needs are being met.
This event was the first in a series of events to prepare for the launch of the City’s open data website in March.
The website data at launch will include OPD cases, calls for service and response to resistance, building permits and business tax receipts issued and political, neighborhood and solid waste route maps.
The City of Orlando will also be meeting with Neighborhood Watch Leaders to review OPD’s crime data, with our Main Street managers to provide an overview of the permitting and business data and with our tech community to showcase all of the tools that will be available alongside the data.
By publishing data on our Open Data site, we plan to drive internal efficiency, develop opportunities for economic development, enhance community engagement, build community trust and fuel our civic tech ecosystem.
The City of Orlando is committed to an open and transparent government and creating opportunities for collaboration and economic development. The launch of the open data website is part of that effort.
– Buddy Dyer, Mayor
