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Office of Policing Reform previews redesigned HPD data dashboard; public raises predictive‑policing and oversight concerns
Summary
Deputy Inspector General Christina Nowak and Senior Staff Analyst Tina Jason showed a Power BI redesign of the city’s police transparency hub with district‑level data. Public speakers and some council members cautioned about predictive policing, oversight powers and access for non‑technical users.
Christina Nowak, Deputy Inspector General for the Office of Policing Reform and Accountability (OPRA), and Tina Jason, senior staff analyst, briefed the committee on a redesign of the city’s police transparency hub, migrating dashboards from ArcGIS to Power BI to improve accessibility, automation and district‑level breakdowns.
Nut graf: Nowak said the redesign aims to increase transparency and make police interaction data easier for the public and council members to use in evidence‑based policy conversations. "First and foremost was to increase transparency," she told the committee, and the new interface adds district‑specific crime data and automated data refreshes.
Nowak described the goals: consolidate multiple data sources, provide drilldowns by demographics and district, and enable trend analysis for measures such as use of force, complaints and departmental demographics. Jason, who built the Power BI dashboards, explained the platform change is intended to provide more dynamic, interactive charts and reduce manual data preparation.
Council members tested the prototype and asked technical and policy questions. Council Member Elkhorn asked about how the dashboard counts and highlights offenses; Jason confirmed the display distinguishes citywide totals from district‑level counts. Council Member Carter asked how the dashboard will be used to inform evidence‑based policy and said the tool should make it easier for council members and constituents to bring data to conversations with HPD. Nowak said the office will incorporate feedback from council offices before going live and is working with HPD and HITS to fill remaining data fields.
Public commenters raised concerns about downstream uses of the data. Bridget Jensen asked whether the dashboard could enable predictive policing and expressed concern about how independent civilian oversight is enforced. Jensen also criticized HPD’s cooperation with federal immigration enforcement and the criminalization of people experiencing homelessness.
Jason and Nowak said the office will accept council and community input before a public launch and noted technical work remains—data licensing, permissions and missing fields from HPD must be resolved. Nowak estimated the live launch could occur within a few weeks if integration and permission issues are completed.
Ending: The committee was invited to review the dashboard link distributed to council offices, submit suggestions for additional datasets (for example calls for service, response times, clearance rates) and to coordinate with OPRA staff on district‑level filters prior to a public release.
