New Utah online crime data ‘dashboards’ allow residents to drill down locally
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- Ogden Police Chief Eric Young, flanked by Mayor Mike Caldwell, speaks to journalists Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021, in an Ogden Police Department briefing room. Young identified a man shot by police the day before.
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- This screengrab from the Utah Bureau of Criminal Identification website shows overall crime trends in Ogden.
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- This screengrab from the Utah Bureau of Criminal Identification website shows violent crime trends in Ogden.
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- This is an example of data available from the Community Crime Map for Ogden.
MARK SHENEFELT, Standard-Examiner
Ogden Police Chief Eric Young, flanked by Mayor Mike Caldwell, speaks to journalists Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021, in an Ogden Police Department briefing room. Young identified a man shot by police the day before.
OGDEN — Ogden Police Chief Eric Young said Thursday a new state service will help give residents a closer handle on community crime trends.
The free online service, which allows users to call up police agencies’ crime data for the past five years, was announced this week by the Utah Department of Public Safety and its Bureau of Criminal Identification.
Users can examine and sort data by police agency or jurisdiction and compare the information with statewide or other agencies’ data. Searchable datasets include: crimes against persons, society, property; offenses reported by arrest; domestic violence analysis; hate crimes; incidents cleared by arrest or other means; and officers killed and assaulted.
The databases are populated by information submitted by police departments around the state. The data can be seen at the BCI website, bci.utah.gov.
Young said the Ogden Police Department already has provided services to help people track crime in their neighborhoods. With the BCI dashboards, “This is a great additional resource and also improves our transparency as an agency,” Young said by email.
Image supplied, Utah Bureau of Criminal Identification
This screengrab from the Utah Bureau of Criminal Identification website shows overall crime trends in Ogden.
According to the BCI dashboard, overall crime in Ogden dipped last year, with 8,603 incidents compared to 8,729 in 2020. Violent crime was up, however, from 499 in 2020 to 557 in 2021.
“These numbers are significantly better than what most cities nationwide and across Utah are seeing, which is an overall increase in crime and violent crime,” Young said. He said overall crime in Ogden has dropped 34% over the past five years.
The new BCI online dashboards make Utah crime data available to the public quicker that before. Monthly data submitted by police agencies to BCI before were compiled and published in an annual Crime in Utah report in pdf format. That historical data in pdf form will continue to be available on the BCI website.
“We are constantly looking for ways to be more transparent,” Jess Anderson, commissioner of the Utah Department of Public Safety, said in a prepared statement. “Transparency builds trust. This type of easy access to nearly real-time data will help anyone to better understand crime trends in their communities.”
This screengrab from the Utah Bureau of Criminal Identification website shows violent crime trends in Ogden.
This is an example of data available from the Community Crime Map for Ogden.