Update 9/23/2019 –
The Seattle Police Department’s online system for viewing police reports is expected to re-launch by the end of 2019, following the completion of work by the city’s Information Technology Department. SPD believes public records are vital to transparency in our community and appreciates the continued patience from users of our online services.
Why can’t I view Seattle Police reports online anymore?
The Seattle Police Department moved to a new records management system to
document and process police reports and crime data. The switch to the new
system impacted the availability of online police reports. While
we anticipated some initial impacts, Seattle’s Information Technology
Department encountered significant challenges converting data from the old
records management system to the new system.
The Seattle Police Department maps crime data by
neighborhood. Why isn’t the map up to date?
The City of Seattle’s My Neighborhood Crime Map
was also impacted by the records system upgrade. The map, part of SPD’s crime dashboard, is based on
initial police reports taken by officers when responding to incidents around
the city. The information is entered into the records management system and
transmitted to the map. Note: the 911 incident map is current. It
shows all police responses to 911 calls within the city up to the last 24
hours.
When will police reports be back online and the map
updated?
We recognize this data is useful to residents and the media. Seattle
IT is working to update the datasets and estimates the tools will be back online
before the end of the year.
In the meantime, other resources for crime information include the Seattle Police Department’s Tweets by Beats, which provides Twitter feeds of police dispatches at the neighborhood beat level. The SPD Blotter includes a sampling of police incidents.
Originally posted 5/6/2019 –
The Seattle Police Department is adopting a new records management system, for documenting and processing police reports and crime data. As part of the new system adoption, the department is anticipating impacts to some tools linked to our previous records management program.
Among the anticipated impacts:
- Tweets by Beat, the My Neighborhood Crime Map, online police reports and crime dashboards may be temporarily disabled or updated infrequently during and after the switch over. Seattle IT will work to remedy these issues as quickly as possible.
- The timing of records requests from the public, attorneys, insurance agencies and others will be impacted as staff become familiar with the new system.
- Front desk services at SPD headquarters—including requests for police reports, fingerprinting and concealed pistol license renewals—may be delayed.
Other services may be affected and the department will provide updates on major outages, significant updates, and repairs to our tools as more information becomes available. It’s also possible that everything goes smoothly and you just read all of this for nothing, so let’s keep our fingers crossed!