Ottawa Police Service
Ottawa Police Service’s Online Portal Keeps Residents Informed and Engaged in Community Safety
About the Art
Jackson Pollock’s abstract impressionist style lent itself beautifully to artistically interpreting the data of the Ottawa Police Service’s online portal data. Layers of drips and clusters of paint dots symbolise the clusters of data from the portal’s filtered data, while the rivers that carve their way through the region give a sense of place.
Original artwork by Aedán Crooke of Surface Impression. No AI was used in the creation of these original artworks.
The Ottawa Police Service Community Safety Data Portal offers datasets on community policing and safety matters so that residents are aware of local issues and can actively participate in addressing community challenges.
The portal was launched in November 2023 and contains 11 datasets, seven dashboards, and six web-maps. It serves as a centralized hub where people can access, use and re-use data on criminal offenses, thefts, homicides, overdoses, shootings, hate crimes, and other safety concerns in the City of Ottawa.
The most popular feature is an interactive crime map, which provides up-to-date visualizations of crime occurrences, ensuring people have access to timely and accurate information. Advanced geolocation technologies are used to plot crime data on maps and geo-masking of crime locations to the nearest road intersection helps to protect privacy while maintaining the data’s utility.
Community feedback and engagement is encouraged through a built-in feedback mechanism. People are invited to share their insights on enhancing the portal’s usability and accessibility, request access to police datasets, and showcase any analyses or projects they have conducted using police data. This collaborative approach ensures the portal remains a valuable and evolving resource.
The portal democratizes access to information, reducing the need for formal freedom of information requests, allowing for faster processing of remaining requests, and enhancing customer service and efficiency.
The Ottawa Police Service Community Safety Data Portal improves the day-to-day lives of Ottawa residents by increasing awareness, fostering collaboration in crime prevention initiatives, and enhancing personal safety. By providing open and transparent access to this important data, the portal also helps build trust and confidence in the Ottawa Police Service.
All accompanying materials available in English.
