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North Canton unveils public "Drive Safe" dashboard to show traffic stops and crash data
Summary
The North Canton Police Department demonstrated a new public PowerBI dashboard and website hub — "Drive Safe" — that visualizes neighborhood speed surveys, monthly traffic stops and accidents, and tools for community education. Staff said incident-level ticket detail is reserved for annual reports but could be considered for future updates.
Chief of Police Frank Kemp and city staff introduced "Drive Safe," a new public dashboard and information hub that shows neighborhood speed studies, monthly traffic stops and crash data.
The dashboard, demonstrated by city staffer Liam, uses PowerBI and lets residents filter by street and month, view accident breakdowns and see where patrol activity has occurred. "This works on both mobile phone and on desktops," Liam said, showing how a user can click a bar to drill into street-level counts. Liam also reported a total of 1,234 traffic stops in the first four months of the year.
Chief Kemp framed the project as both enforcement and education: "Our duty as police officers is not just to enforce the law. Our responsibility is also to try to educate the public," he said, noting the dashboard will help residents see where officers are active. Administrative specialist Jennifer Cross said the site also includes speed-survey results (including survey dates and average speeds), background on measurement tools, and educational spotlights on bicycle safety, e-bikes and seat-belt use.
Council members asked whether the public page indicates whether a stop resulted in a ticket. Liam said the public dashboard omits that incident-level granularity for now, but staff can consider additional detail in future releases; annual reports include more granular ticketing information. The presentation also described the department's inventory of tools — 28 solar-powered radar speed signs, mobile speed trailers, a mobile "stealth" unit for hidden speed readings and handheld radar devices — and said roughly one-third of annual traffic-related calls involve traffic issues.
Councilors praised the public-facing approach and suggested distributing posters and QR-coded materials at community events such as the Main Street Festival. Staff said the dashboard will be updated on a rolling basis as new data is published and will serve as a public education resource.
The council did not take any action on policy or funding during the presentation; staff encouraged residents with a speeding concern to call the non-emergency number and, if possible, provide time windows to help officers deploy targeted monitoring.
