Take Action: LAPD Removed Crime Location Data. Here's Why It Matters.
Dear SpotCrime Subscriber,
For years, residents across Los Angeles relied on public crime data to stay informed about safety in their neighborhoods.
That transparency has now disappeared.
The Los Angeles Police Department has significantly reduced the availability and usefulness of public crime data during its transition to a new records system. Specifically, it removed block-level crime location information from its open crime data feed, making it effectively impossible for the public to determine where crimes occurred.
For more than a decade, SpotCrime has helped Los Angeles residents stay informed by turning public crime data into alerts, maps, and neighborhood awareness tools, Millions of alerts have been delivered to families, commuters, business owners, journalists, researchers, and community members trying to make informed decisions about safety.
Now, that flow of information is being restricted.
What makes this especially troubling is that independent journalists and watchdog organizations have also raised serious concerns about inconsistencies and gaps in LAPD's publicly available crime data. Public records requests have produced delays, incomplete responses, and shifting explanations.
Transparency should not disappear when technology changes.
Public crime data belongs to the public.
When timely crime information is reduced, delayed, or stripped of location detail, communities lose the ability to understand what is happening around them. Residents become less informed. Journalists lose oversight tools. Researchers lose accountability mechanisms. And public trust erodes.
We believe the people of Los Angeles deserve timely public crime reporting, restoration of block-level crime location information, transparency around data changes and delays, and accountability from leadership.
If you believe the same, contact Los Angeles city officials and demand the restoration of block-level address locations to the LAPD open crime data feed.
Chief Jim McDonnell
https://www.lapdonline.org/command-staff/chief-jim-mcdonnell/
Email: 23297@lapd.online
Los Angeles Police Department
https://www.lapdonline.org/contact-us/
Email: contact.lapdonline@lapd.online
Board of Police Commissioners
https://www.lapdonline.org/police-commission/function-and-role-of-the-board-of-police-commissioners/
Los Angeles City Council
Email: https://lacity.gov/directory#elected-officials
Los Angeles Office of the Inspector General
https://www.oig.lacity.org/
Email: oigcomplaint@lapd.online
Transparency only works when the public demands it.
Sincerely,
The SpotCrime Team
