Anchorage Police Department participating in national police data initiative

The Anchorage Police Department is joining 100 other police departments around the country to provide more data and information to their respective communities.

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APD announced Friday it’s participating in the White House Police Data Initiative.

Lieutenant Jack Carson says the aim is to increase transparency within the Anchorage Police Department.

“We’re gonna put out the data sets that are gonna hopefully give further light on what we do as a police department day-to-day, and creating that transparency is gonna help us work better with our community is what we’re hoping for,” Carson said.

Over the next year, APD will provide three open data sets to the public.

But, Carson says exactly which data sets those will be has not yet been determined.

“We’ve been going to the community safety meetings and community councils and stuff, and getting a feel for what the community is starving for, what information they’re wanting from the Anchorage Police Department,” Carson said. “And we’re gonna base the data sets we release on the information we receive from those local councils.”

Carson says the new data will be in addition to information the department already releases, like calls for service, arrest rates and citizen complaints.

There’s no firm timeline for when the department will release each set, but Carson expects the distribution to be adequately spread out over the next year.