Alameda County Probation Department's Public Data Program

About the Program

Category: Civic Education and Public Information (Best in Category)

Year: 2019

To increase transparency, improve citizen knowledge of government services, and enhance collaboration between government and community partners, in 2018 the Alameda County Probation Department (ACPD) developed and released public datasets containing individual-level demographic information on the probation population. A Data Workgroup, consisting of staff and leadership from a cross-section of the Department met monthly to identify data most requested from the public, examine and address data integrity and quality, mitigate risks of re-identifiability in de-identified data, and then present and publicize datasets and dashboards that are now published quarterly on the county’s Open Data portal and the Department’s website. The datasets and dashboards are one of the first interactive sources of information released publicly by a probation department that provide individual-level demographic information on probation clients, while protecting confidentiality. The public, community, and government partners can interact and analyze the data as desired to better understand the characteristics of the probation population, so that they can better serve our clients, and programs and services can be better targeted to those who most need them. In releasing the public datasets and dashboards, ACPD made big strides in bringing criminal justice agencies into the modern era of data transparency and integrity.