Case Study: Seattle Police Department achieves greater transparency and community trust with Socrata's SeaStat

Seattle Police Department: Building Community Trust Through Open Data

Socrata partnered with the Seattle Police Department to help rebuild community trust and meet federal reform requirements after a 2012 DOJ investigation into excessive force and oversight failures. The SPD needed to institutionalize transparency, free data trapped in legacy systems, and address privacy concerns while making timely public‑safety data available to the public and oversight partners.

Using Socrata’s SeaStat portal the SPD automated publication of raw datasets (911 calls, incident reports, use‑of‑force) and adopted privacy‑guided business rules, while mentoring other agencies through the White House Police Data Initiative. The portal provides searchable data and visualizations, direct researcher access, biweekly interagency reviews, and lower costs for information requests—resulting in stronger transparency, improved community trust, and national leadership in open policing data.

Seattle Police Department

Mike Wagers

Former Chief Operating Officer