We are excited to announce the beta of
a new public data tool named @CPDPbot
This Twitter bot is built upon the Citizens Police Data Project, an interactive database of more than 56,000 public police complaints in Chicago. We invite you to test the bot by mentioning @CPDPbot in tweets that contain either an officer's first and last name or just a link to a news article that contains an officer's name. You can also retweet any existing tweet from another user and add "@CPDPbot" to see if it gets a match in the database.
What will it do?
@CPDPbot will check through its database of CPD police misconduct complaints and respond to your tweet with a brief summary of the named officer's complaint history if it finds anything along with a link to that officer's profile on the Citizens Police Data Project where you can find more info about that officer and their colleagues.
Example: “@CPDPbot Glenn Evans was found not guilty in December 2015”
Response:
What can I do?
If you are so inclined, please share @CPDPbot and/or this message with other interested parties. This beta launch includes a small group of Chicago influencers doing critical work around policing and criminal justice, so we hope you’ll accept our invitation to test @CPDPbot ahead of its full launch in the coming weeks.
How can I help?
Please let us know when something doesn't work as you expected it to, or if you just have a new idea for how to make this tool more useful. Please reach out to us by email: tech@invisible.institute
If you're interested in playing with the code to fix bugs or improve documentation or suggest new ideas, please join us on GitHub.
What is the Invisible Institute?
The Invisible Institute is a journalistic production company on the South Side of Chicago. Our mission is to enhance the capacity of citizens to hold public institutions accountable. Among the tactics we employ are human rights documentation, investigative reporting, civil rights litigation, the curating of public information, conceptual art projects, and the orchestration of difficult public conversations. More info on our work and approach can be found here, here and here.