TOWSON, MD—County Executive Johnny Olszewski on Friday released a new interactive Baltimore County crime data dashboard, where residents can view detailed information about crime.
“Residents deserve to know exactly what’s happening in their communities, and this dashboard shines a light on crime statistics in Baltimore County,” Olszewski said. “We’re pleased that the dashboard shows that crime is decreasing in Baltimore County, and that Baltimore County remains a safe place to live, work, and raise a family.”
The data dashboard includes County Part 1 Crime data from 2017 to present. The dashboard will be updated each month.
“We will continue to work relentlessly on building public trust in the communities that we serve. The creation of this information center increases our transparency for citizens to see and understand what is happening in their communities and within our agency,” said Baltimore County Police Chief Melissa Hyatt. “We remain committed to promoting equitable policing across Baltimore County and will continue to evolve and enhance our level of service.”
According to data through the first six months of 2020, Baltimore County reported reductions in homicides and all other major crime categories. From January 1, 2020, through June 30, 2020, Baltimore County saw the following major reductions compared to the same period in 2019:
- Homicides: 15 percent decrease
- Burglary: 35 percent decrease
- Robberies: 30 percent decrease
- Assault: 24 percent decrease
- Theft: 23 percent decrease
- Motor Vehicle Theft: 15 percent decrease
No Part 1 crime categories saw year-over-year increases.
“Ensuring the safety of our communities is one of our most important responsibilities and I want to applaud Chief Hyatt and the Baltimore County Police Department for their bravery, service, and progress,” Olszewski added. “Early in the new year, I introduced a series of interventions to enhance the safety of our communities, changes which are already showing significant progress. Moving ahead, we will continue to innovate to make sure Baltimore County’s neighborhoods remain safe.”
Earlier this year, Baltimore County also launched BCSTAT, a data-driven performance management program that aims to improve performance, ensure data quality, enhance transparency and increase accountability across government.
Baltimore County has also released a number of downloadable raw data-sets related to numerous government functions and services. Open Data also includes access to the “My Neighborhood” interactive mapping application, which allows residents to select, view and print predefined maps and reports about Baltimore County, such as police precincts, enterprise zones or census information.
As part of a recent package of reforms to improve transparency and accountability in the Baltimore County Police Department, the Olszewski Administration announced plans to build public dashboards displaying data on the number and disposition of complaints against police officers, instances of uses of force, and traffic stop data broken down by race. These dashboards are scheduled to be released in the coming weeks.
