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Bothell police unveil daily-updated public crime-mapping portal
Summary
The Bothell Police Department demonstrated a new public crime-transparency website that publishes calls for service and case data daily, offers downloadable CSVs, and anonymizes exact locations by publishing intersections. Council members praised the tool and asked about features and regional data sharing.
Bothell police demonstrated a new public crime-transparency portal to the City Council on June 17, offering five years of data plus the current year and daily automatic updates.
The portal, Chief Subbulic said, is intended to give residents “data in front of the community so that they can understand what’s happening in their neighborhoods.” Detective Chad Davis showed the site and its tools and directed viewers to the portal URL: “bothelllaw.gov/police-transparency.”
The portal includes call-for-service incident listings, case reports, collision statistics, arrests, and traffic-infractions modules. Data in the portal stretches back to 2020 and updates each morning after Norcom posts dispatch information, Detective Davis said. To protect privacy, officers’ location data are displaced to intersections rather than exact addresses; the portal also allows users to download the underlying CSV files for independent analysis.
Council members asked about features they used on the old site. Deputy Mayor said the portal “looks much better on the desktop” and noted mobile filters had recently been fixed. Council member Manky asked whether residents can set a perimeter to receive automatic alerts; Detective Davis said he would look into whether that feature is available. Council member Zorns asked whether mutual-aid responses are visible; staff said the portal does not display when other jurisdictions or county units assist Bothell.
Staff acknowledged gaps that remain. Detective Davis said some records lag while officers complete reports, and some data depend on external dispatch systems. Chief Subbulic thanked the city’s GIS and ITS teams and said the portal used software the city already owned, which reduced direct costs.
Council members who spoke praised the project as a step toward transparency. Council member Albrecht said the portal “will help our community have a better understanding of the work the police department does.”
City staff asked the public and council for feedback to improve the portal’s filters and usability. Detective Davis said the team will continue refining the mobile experience, adding clarifying FAQ content, and evaluating requests—such as perimeter alerts—raised by council members.
Less critical details: the portal includes visual charts (incidents per year, day of week, hour of day), maps that let users click individual incidents for more context, and an arrests dashboard that maps arrestees by ZIP code. Staff noted some neighboring jurisdictions use different vendors and dispatch systems, so a consistent regional data set is not yet available.
