Democratizing Public Safety Budget Data

Why It Matters

Making police and public safety budget data transparent and accessible lowers technical barriers to civic engagement, enabling more informed public debate and oversight of resource allocation. Standardized, replicable dashboards can improve accountability across cities and support data-driven policy discussions.

Summary

The Urban Institute hosted a webinar on projects that translate municipal public safety budgets into interactive, easy-to-understand dashboards. Partnering with local groups including the Polis Center (Indianapolis), ACT for San Antonio, and Community Information Now, the initiative compiles dispersed budget documents, standardizes definitions and history, and publishes linked data and visualizations for public use. Presenters emphasized the dashboards are nonpartisan tools designed to clarify proposed vs. enacted vs. actual expenditures and to be replicable for other jurisdictions. The Indianapolis dashboard was highlighted as live, freely available, and intended for residents, advocates, reporters, and policymakers.