Dallas unveils public park-safety dashboard tied to marshal and ranger data

The Dallas Park and Recreation Department and the city’s Office of Data and Business Intelligence on Thursday demonstrated a new Parks Safety dashboard that displays park ranger and marshal activities, infractions, citations, trail miles and a compliance metric.

The dashboard “refreshes with new data data daily,” Jocelyn Guerrero, data science analyst with the Office of Data and Business Intelligence, told the Park Board during a presentation. Guerrero said the dashboard will be publicly accessible and includes filters for fiscal year, month, council district and park maintenance district.

City leaders and board members said the tool will help spot hot spots and improve internal coordination. “This dashboard was intended really to make Jeremy’s life easier,” Dr. Britta Andochek, chief data officer for the City of Dallas, said, adding the pilot is the first phase of a broader 10‑month City Data Alliance engagement with Bloomberg’s Johns Hopkins Center for Governmental Excellence.

Board members pressed presenters on what source systems feed the dashboard and how the data will be expanded. Guerrero and other staff said the dashboard currently ingests entries marshals and rangers enter (via the department’s Google form/e-log workflow) and that the team has begun conversations with Dallas Police Department, Dallas Fire-Rescue and code enforcement for future integration. Guerrero said the marshals page distinguishes between general and “first watch” overnight shifts and provides counts of visits, infractions, warnings, citations and arrests.

Asked whether 311, 911 and a park hotline would be included, Andochek said the larger City Data Alliance project convened DPD, fire and code partners and that additional sources could be incorporated in the next phase. “We want to bring in all of those data sources as we look at kind of this next 10 month engagement that will be much more comprehensive,” she said.

Board members also asked about public access and timing. Guerrero said this version is intended to be public while noting that some future views could be internal-only depending on data‑sharing agreements. A staff member said the dashboard “is refreshed daily at 7AM” and that staff will explore alerting or a “major incident” flag to help board members identify large responses quickly.

Park staff outlined several practical uses: identifying top infraction types (for example, off‑leash dog citations), mapping where ranger and marshal activity is concentrated, and sending regular email summaries to board members or district leads. Board members asked that partners such as property improvement districts and private park contractors be considered for data sharing so the dashboard better reflects user reports as well as agency encounters.

City staff framed the dashboard as an internal operations tool that can support community-facing communications. “This dashboard is for your benefit,” a parks official said when asked whether board members would get access; staff said they plan a rollout discussion with the board’s ad hoc safety and security committee and with Parks, Trails and Environmental and public safety committees.

Presenters also announced the city’s selection for the Bloomberg City Data Alliance, a 10‑month program run by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Center for Governmental Excellence, and said that collaboration will expand the project’s scope.

The department solicited feedback from board members on additional data sources and suggested next steps include refining the dashboard based on today’s comments, developing a rollout plan and defining which views should be public or internal.