Open Police Data in Illinois
We are expanding our data and journalism practice to mid-sized cities in Illinois, beginning with Champaign-Urbana, Joliet, and Rockford.
Drawing from the lessons we learned through the Citizens Police Data Project (CPDP), the Invisible Institute is expanding our open data work to several other cities in Illinois. This work is rooted in expanding the impact of the Kalven v. Chicago (2014) decision, which established that documents related to allegations of police misconduct are public record. In Chicago, our team has made nearly a quarter of a million misconduct files available to the public and supported reporting about police abuse and accountability.
What we have found so far is that policing data in smaller cities is often messy and incomplete, but it is also critical for communities to hold their departments accountable. According to the DOJ, local police departments make up 80% of the police agencies in the United States. However, whether it be due to a lack of resources or expertise, data from these local departments can be difficult to analyze on an aggregate level for reporters and residents alike. The nature of policing locally also requires a different approach to reporting; instead of focusing on the most egregious cases community input is necessary to understand what misconduct looks like in smaller jurisdictions. Over the next year, our team is hoping to work with journalists, organizers, and residents across the state to better understand the needs of different cities and towns and provide access to public records and quality reporting that will serve these communities.
Our Work So Far
Our pilot program is in Urbana and Champaign – two neighboring mid-sized cities in central Illinois. In early 2023, we launched the beta site champaign.cpdp.co, our first police data tool outside of Chicago.
Along with accessing, cleaning, and making police complaint and use of force data public, our reporting team has partnered with local journalism outlets in Urbana and Champaign (including CU-CitizenAccess, Illinois Public Media, and The Public i), and have so far published a story about the police misconduct of a Champaign County Sheriff’s sergeant, an investigation into police response to mental health cases and involuntary commitment, an investigation into a pattern of excessive use of force and the failure of accountability systems within the Urbana Police Department, and police’s continued violations of department policies surrounding domestic violence calls.
We have developed partners in several other Illinois cities, including Joliet and Rockford, where our team is exploring a lawsuit in partnership with local reporters to free misconduct records. Through community partnerships and collaborations, we aim to make the site useful to journalists, organizers, attorneys, and residents in their everyday interactions with police.
Rockford
In Rockford, we have requested the city to release police misconduct data and have a public records appeal pending with the state Public Access Counselor.
We are partnering with WNIJ Northern Public Radio to pursue other public records requests and reporting on the local police including this story about issues with Rockford’s in-the-works Civilian Oversight Board.
Joliet and Will County
In Joliet and Will County, we have begun seeking data from the Joliet Police Department and are working with academics and students at Governors State University to develop department use of force policy explainers.
Open Data Notes
How to get involved
As part of this initiative, we are talking to residents, researchers, and organizers around the state. If you’d like to talk to our team about policing in your community, please contact data@invisibleinstitute.com.
This initiative is supported in part by the Data-Driven Reporting Project, the Catalyst Grant Program, and Dean Makino. You can support the work by making a recurring donation and sharing this work with people you know across Illinois.