Invisible Institute
Project: A database on police use of force in Illinois
Invisible Institute compiled a database of complaints against police officers and use of force reports in cities outside of Chicago across Illinois. The initial database has 7,000 records from the City of Champaign, Illinois and Urbana, Illinois and is geared toward both the public and journalists. The nonprofit worked with local journalists to both build the database and report stories based on the records obtained. This was modeled after work the group has done with public records regarding police in Chicago.
Chicago, Illinois
https://invisible.institute/
Interview with Andrew Fan, Invisible Institute
Time:
Project ongoing
Technology used:
WordPress (headless) - backend of site
JavaScript/React - frontend of site
Python - clean and explore the data
How it started:
Invisible Institute had launched an initial database centered around police records in Chicago and the group wanted to pilot a slimmed down version that combined their expertise in obtaining and analyzing police data and documents with their experience in collaborating with large newsrooms to target smaller cities outside of Illinois.
Challenges:
Part of the challenge was building trust with a community the group was not from as community engagement is a key part of the nonprofit’s reporting process. And that takes time.
Other challenges included obtaining the public records they were seeking from police local police departments where compliance was “slow-moving”.
Some cities have a Freedom of Information Act officer who is unsure of how their own information systems work - so they may send data that is messy or not what was requested.
And finding the right media partner also posed a challenge because newsrooms are strapped for resources and may not have the capacity to work on a project like this.
Data/Documents:
Records related to complaints about police officers and police use of force reports
Impact:
This project revealed issues with how local police respond to people in mental health crises, called attention to an Urbana officer with a history of problematic uses of force, and called into question the effectiveness of Champaign Police Department trainings on domestic violence. The team also has additional investigations on track to publish in early 2024.
Advice:
Think about ways to break down an ambitious project into stages.
Understand the time it takes to put data into context for the benefit of the reader