18F/18f.gsa.gov

---
agency: Federal Bureau of Investigation
title: Opening up crime data
subtitle: Improved access to critical data
permalink: /what-we-deliver/crime-data-explorer/
excerpt: Moving critical crime data to an interactive website that includes an open API so the public can build tools using the data.
image: /assets/blog/fbi-crime-data/fbi-hero.png
image_accessibility: Crime data graphs laid over a map of the U.S.
image_icon:
project_weight: 10
tag: fbi
expiration_date:
github_repo:
    - "[Crime Data Explorer project repository](https://github.com/18F/crime-data-explorer)"
    - "[API code](https://github.com/18F/crime-data-api)"
    - "[Front end code](https://github.com/18f/crime-data-frontend)"
    - "[Research and documentation](https://github.com/18F/crime-data-explorer/wiki)"
project_url: "[Crime Data Explorer website](https://crime-data-explorer.fr.cloud.gov/)"
learn_more:
product_clients:
---

For decades, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has collected crime
data from all over the country as part of the Uniform Crime Reporting
(UCR) program. Starting in August, 2017, the FBI began working with 18F
to create a digital tool that provides law enforcement and the general
public with improved access to the UCR data.

<div class="small-caps">Approach</div>
### Becoming a digital organization

The UCR information has a huge potential audience including researchers,
law enforcement officers, and the general public. 18F and the FBI team
from the Criminal Justice Information Services office interviewed
different types of users to find out how they use this data and focus
the initial features to build before launching the site.

The result is the Crime Data Explorer, a new, interactive website that
includes trend data, datasets for download, and an open API so the
public can build tools using the data.

The site allows the FBI to reach a far broader audience, promote citizen
engagement, improve resource allocation for communities, and will lead
to more transparency and accountability within law enforcement agencies.

Agencies like the FBI often have strict security and privacy rules that
can make offices hesitant to work and publish in the open. The FBI’s
Crime Data Explorer not only publishes data in an open format, but the
underlying code and team discussions are also public. This helped push
the team to better meet the transparency and public service missions of
their crime data program.

The process of working with 18F also helped the Criminal Justice
Information Services office begin thinking about themselves as a digital
organization. Beyond launching their first first open source,
cloud-based app, the experience of creating a product with 18F has
opened the door to new ways of working that will help modernize how the
FBI builds and buys technology.