Waterloo Regional Police Posting Occurrence Data To WRPS Website

Waterloo Region, ON – The Waterloo Regional Police Service is pleased to announce that members of the community now have access to, and the ability to download police occurrence raw data. Starting today, files from the years 2011-2013 have been posted to the WRPS website.
The Waterloo Regional Police Service is committed to providing information to the community about services that are performed on their behalf. The release of the raw data represents a further expansion of efforts to keeping the public informed while recognizing the need for levels of privacy and confidentiality where mandated.

The newly posted WRPS occurrence data complements the interactive web mapping solution which was launched in 2012. The crime mapping application provides users the opportunity to query police-reported occurrences by geographic location, time, and type based on their own unique needs and interests. The data on the Occurrence Map feature is updated daily, but seven days retroactive to meet the privacy legislation and the protection of victim identities. This open and freely accessible interactive mapping tool helps to create ongoing awareness of trends in police calls for service and crime prevention.

In addition to the information available from the Occurrence Mapping application, the Occurrence Data files also provide dispatched time intervals. Specific address information that could identify individuals is randomly offset to the nearest intersection. The files are available in a comma-separated format (.csv) that can be supported by a variety of applications.
Users of the data are requested to read About Our Data, which helps create understanding surrounding each data field, its source and limitations. A posted disclaimer provides information on the authorized use of the data.

For investigative integrity and to ensure a thorough verification process, the yearly occurrence data will only be posted following the annual Statistics Canada Police-reported crime statistics in Canada Juristat release. For example, the 2014 occurrence file will be available after July 2015.

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