RULES COMMITTEE AGENDA: 10/2/2024
ITEM: C.3
TO:RULES & OPEN FROM:Councilmember Arjun Batra
GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE
SUBJECT: SEE BELOW DATE:September 26, 2024
Approved
SUBJECT: PUBLISHING PUBLIC SAFETY DATA BY COUNCIL DISTRICT
RECOMMENDATIONS
Direct the City Manager to:
1. At the October PSFSS Council subcommittee meeting, present a plan and timeline for the monthly publishing of crime statistics by City Council district. a. These statistics could include but not be limited to the same statistics currently published on the San Jose Police Department’s website. b. Modify the Public Safety, Finance, and Strategic Support (PSFSS) work plan for the period of August through December 2024 to incorporate this recommendation.
BACKGROUND
At the September 19, 2024, PSFSS meeting, acting Police Chief Joseph reiterated that SJPD's recently procured technology allows it to disaggregate crime statistics by Council District.
At several other meetings, PSFSS members have shown interest in accessing detailed crime data to better support and improve the safety and well-being of their residents.
Likewise, various businesses and neighborhood associations have requested this data to help them understand how to assist their respective communities effectively.
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
September 26, 2024
Subject: Publishing Public Safety Data by Council District
Presently, the San Jose Police Department website provides crime data in several formats:
1. Citywide annual and monthly crime statistics
2. A crime mapping tool for site-specific data
However, no published dashboard breaks down our City Council district's crime statistics.
The city should develop a formal plan to create and publish crime data specific to each Council District to address this gap. This new approach would provide more localized and detailed crime information, potentially benefiting both city officials and residents by offering a clearer picture of crime trends in different areas of San Jose.
Publishing crime data by Council District will serve several important purposes:
1. Support for Public Safety: This data will highlight the successful efforts of our public safety officers in combatting crime across different neighborhoods, providing tangible evidence of their impact.
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
September 26, 2024
Subject: Publishing Public Safety Data by Council District
2. Economic Development: By breaking down positive crime data trends by neighborhood areas, we’ll empower the Office of Economic Development to recruit and retain businesses more effectively.
3. Increase Public Trust in the Safety of our Neighborhoods and our Police Force: This approach would ensure that residents and stakeholders across the entire city have access to localized crime statistics rather than relying solely on citywide data or the current crime mapping tool. By publishing a comprehensive dashboard with crime information for all districts, we can offer a more balanced and detailed view of public safety trends throughout San Jose. This approach will recognize the work of our law enforcement and contribute to the economic growth and vitality of our city’s various districts.
I urge my colleagues to adopt this memo to help inform our residents and businesses of the great work SJPD is doing to make our communities safer.
The signers of this memorandum have not had, and will not have, any private conversation with any other member of the City Council, or that member’s staff, concerning any action discussed in the memorandum, and that each signer’s staff members have not had, and have been instructed not to have, any such conversation with any other member of the City Council or that member's staff.