Related Guides
Criminal Justice
- JEET: Justice Expenditure and Employment Tool (BJS) The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) extracts justice expenditure and employment data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Annual Government Finance Survey and Annual Survey of Public Employment and Payroll. BJS has made these data available through the Justice Expenditure and Employment Tool (JEET), an interface that can generate expenditure and employment statistics for different justice categories (Total Justice, Police Protection, Judicial and Legal, Corrections) and different levels of government (National, State, County, City). The JEET will be updated annually with subsequent years and historical data from 1982 onward.
- National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) The National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) archives and disseminates data on crime and justice for secondary analysis. The archive contains data from over 2,700 curated studies or statistical data series. NACJD is home to several large-scale and well known datasets, including the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), the FBI's National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), and the Project on Human Development in Chicago
- Campus Safety and Security Data Analysis Cutting Tool (ed.gov) The Campus Safety and Security Data Analysis Cutting Tool is brought to you by the Office of Postsecondary Education of the U.S. Department of Education. This analysis cutting tool was designed to provide rapid customized reports for public inquiries relating to campus crime and fire data.
- The Woke Windows Project: A Comprehensive Database on the Boston Police The goal of the Woke Windows Project is to bring transparency to the activities of law enforcement in our community.We collect data from public sources. We combine these data to form inter-linked reports and tables that give every individual the ability to understand policing in their community. Our focus at this time is on The Boston Police Department, because the activities of our local police have the greatest immediate impact on our lives.
- Tracking BPD Incidents (ACLU Massachusetts) View plots in the different tabs to track the activity of the Boston Police Department over time, including the frequency and location of specific incident types.
- Data from Social Media Monitoring by Boston Police (Data for Justice Project, ACLU Massachusetts) Spreadsheet of emails from 2014 to 2016 about social media surveillance by the Boston Police Department’s Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC), including metadata (times, senders, recipients), subject, and text.
- Police in Politics (ACLU Massachusetts) Police reform and budgeting has become a high priority in Boston, across the Commonwealth, and nationally. However, engagement by police staff and their unions in state and local politics often acts as an obstacle to meaningful reform. Trace police-related donations to Mayor Walsh and to the Boston City Council from 2010 to 2020 (up to and including the most recent quarter filing), using data from the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance.
- Crime Incident Reports (Analyze Boston) Crime incident reports are provided by Boston Police Department (BPD) to document the initial details surrounding an incident to which BPD officers respond. This is a dataset containing records from the new crime incident report system, which includes a reduced set of fields focused on capturing the type of incident as well as when and where it occurred. Records in the new system begin in June of 2015.
- An Analysis of Racial Disparities in Police Traffic Stops in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, from 2010 to 2019 (Vera Institute) This report shows that Black drivers are disproportionately pulled over by law enforcement in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, particularly for non-traffic-safety offenses. The Vera Institute of Justice’s (Vera) Reshaping Prosecution program partnered with the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office (SCDAO) from July 2020 to March 2022 to study racial disparities in the criminal legal system. Vera’s analysis revealed that non-traffic-safety stops in Suffolk County are worsening racial disparities in traffic enforcement. This report shares findings from Vera’s analysis of 10 years of traffic stop and criminal case data from Suffolk County.
- Violent Crimes Raw Data: Boston (The Trace) The Trace Obtained Data On 4.3 Million Violent Crimes From 50+ Police and Sheriff’s Departments. Scroll down to select Boston.
- BPD Field Interrogation and Observation (FIO) (Analyze Boston) The FIO program encompasses a wide range of interactions between the Boston Police Department (BPD) and private individuals. By releasing the records of these interactions, BPD hopes to add transparency to the execution of the program while still protecting the privacy of the individuals involved.
- Homicide Clearance Rate (Analyze Boston) The Boston Police Department’s Homicide Investigation Unit investigates all homicides occurring within Boston Police jurisdiction. According to FBI standards, the annual homicide clearance rate is calculated using the total number of new homicides in a calendar year, and the total number of homicides that are cleared that calendar year – regardless of the year the homicide occurred within.
- Atlas of Surveillance The Atlas of Surveillance is a database of surveillance technologies deployed by law enforcement in communities across the United States. We specifically focused on the most pervasive technologies, including drones, body-worn cameras, face recognition, cell-site simulators, automated license plate readers, predictive policing, camera registries, and gunshot detection. Although we have amassed more than 9,040 datapoints in 4,600-plus jurisdictions, our research only reveals the tip of the
- Massachusetts Hate Crime Data (Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security) Searchable by community, college, state police unit, hospital. The data in this theme is a combination of NIBRS and combined Summary totals, and reflects data from agencies who have successfully submitted crime data for the selected year.
- Massachusetts Crime Statistics Find DUI/Drugs, Violent Crime, Hate Crime and All Arrestee, for Boston, Suffolk State Police, colleges, universities, Mass General Hospital, MBTA (by county).
- Massachusetts Detailed Arrest Records Searchable by community, college, state police unit, hospital.
- Police Arrest Data for Commonwealth of Massachusetts (Data for Justice Project, ACLU Massachusetts) Spreadsheet of “low-level” arrests made in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from 2012 to 2017. Includes county, arresting agency, date of arrest, offense, arrestee age (except for Suffolk County), arrestee gender (except for Suffolk County), and arrestee race.
- Data Dashboards (Massachusetts Department of Corrections) Interactive dashboards that provide visual data and interactive tools that allow the public to view inmate and prison data and statistics through visual charts and graphs. Includes January 1 Snapshots, Admissions, Releases, Releases to Community, Inmate Profiles and more DOC dashboards. Searchable by DOC unit or county.
- Department of Defense 1033 Program (Data for Justice Project, ACLU Massachusetts) Spreadsheet of purchases of military weapons by local law enforcement departments from 1994 to 2017. Includes item name, quanitity, cost, and shipping date for police departments in 50 U.S. States and 4 U.S. Territories (District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands). While Boston Police Department does not appear on the list, federal law enforcement entities located in Boston, do.
- Prosecution Data from the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office (Data for Justice Project, ACLU Massachusetts) Spreadsheets of every charge processed to a disposition by the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office in 2013 and 2014, including dates, docket number, court, defendant race, charge, and disposition.
- Boston University Annual Security and Fire Safety Report (October, 2022) Crime and fire safety statistics for the Charles River and medical campus in 2019, 2020, and 2021.
- Full Disclosure: Boston Police Internal Affairs Cases, 2010-2020 (Boston Globe) The Globe collected 10 years worth of public records from the Boston Police Department and created this database. Records include an internal investigations log, discipline, awards, case summaries, arbitration and civil service decisions, and payroll. The database covers 3,095 internal affairs cases involving 7,500 total allegations and data regarding 1,553 officers. One case may contain multiple allegations and multiple officers. The BPD records have holes. Pending cases do not include
- Police Scorecard The Police Scorecard is the first nationwide public evaluation of policing in the United States. The Scorecard calculates levels of police violence, accountability, racial bias and other policing outcomes for over 16,000 municipal and county law enforcement agencies, covering nearly 100% of the US population.
- Stanford Open Policing Project (Stanford Computational Policy Lab) Standardized stop data are available to download (by location). Data from the Massachusetts State Police include: Stop Date, Stop Location, Driver Race, Driver Sex, Driver Age, Search Conducted, Contraband Found, Citation Issued, Warning Issues, Arrest Made.
- The Henry A. Wallace Police Crime Database The Police Crime Database includes summary information on 10,287 criminal arrest cases from the years 2005-2014 involving 8,495 individual nonfederal sworn law enforcement officers, each of whom were charged with one or more crimes. Includes Boston.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer Select Massachusetts. Crime data for Massachusetts are derived from both incident-based (NIBRS) and summary (SRS) reports voluntarily submitted to the FBI. Includes Boston, UMass Boston, and Boston University police departments.
Firearms / Gun Violence / Shootings
- BPD Firearm Recovery Counts (Analyze Boston) This dataset provides daily counts of firearms recovered by Boston Police Department since August 20, 2014. Recovery totals are provided for three distinct channels: crime, voluntary surrender, and gun buyback programs.
- Shootings (Analyze Boston) The Shootings dashboard contains information on shooting incidents where a victim was struck by a bullet, either fatally or non-fatally; that occurred in the City of Boston and fall under Boston Police Department jurisdiction. The dashboard does not contain records for self-inflicted gunshot wounds or shootings determined to be justifiable. Information on the incident, and the demographics of victims are included.
- Shots Fired (Analyze Boston) The Shots Fired dashboard contains information on shooting incidents that did not result in any victim(s) being struck; but occurred in the city of Boston and fall under Boston Police Department jurisdiction. This information may come into the department through a 911 call, a ShotSpotter activation, or an officer on-siting an incident.
- Washington Post Police Shootings Database In 2015, The Washington Post began to log every fatal shooting by an on-duty police officer in the United States.
- Gun Violence Archive The Gun Violence Archive is an online archive of gun violence incidents collected from over 7,500 law enforcement, media, government and commercial sources daily in an effort to provide near-real time data about the results of gun violence. GVA is an independent data collection and research group with no affiliation with any advocacy organization. Search is for Boston.
Public Safety
- Fire Incident Reporting (Analyze Boston) Fire incidents, to be shared with state and federal governments for reporting. Supports resource allocation.
- Boston Emergency Services Team: BEST (Analyze Boston) Through a close partnership with the BEST, Mental Health Clinicians co-respond with BPD officers to improve response to mental health-related calls for service. These clinicians can also assist with holding cell evaluations, provide critical follow-up, and assist with mental health training of BPD officers. This dashboard includes two metrics for the BEST clinicians: the number of incidents to which BEST clinicians co-responded with BPD officers, and the proactive engagement/ follow-ups conducted by BEST clinicians.
- Fire Departments (Analyze Boston) City of Boston fire department locations.
- Boston University Annual Security and Fire Safety Report (October, 2022) Crime and fire safety statistics for the Charles River and medical campus in 2019, 2020, and 2021.
Featured Article on Boston and Crime Data
- "Airbnb and neighborhood crime: The incursion of tourists or the erosion of local social dynamics,?" PLOS ONE, July 2021 The proliferation of internet-based home-sharing platforms like Airbnb has raised heated debates, with many in the general public believing that the presence of Airbnb listings can lead to an increase in crime and disorder in residential neighborhoods. Despite the importance of this debate to residents, policymakers, and other stakeholders, few studies have examined the causal linkage between Airbnb listings and crime in neighborhoods. We conduct the first such empirical test in Boston neighborhoods, focusing on two potential mechanisms: (1) the inflow of tourists might generate or attract crime; and (2) the creation of transient properties undermines local social dynamics.
