LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville residents can now access the city’s latest crime dashboard offering, for the first time, real-time gun violence data. For instance, Louisville saw 140 homicides so far in 2023, an 84% increase from 2018. It also shows a 10% decrease in non-fatal shootings compared to last year.
"Behind every one of these dots," Mayor Craig Greenberg said at the announcement, "behind every one of these numbers and graphs on the page, is a real person. Is a real story. Is a real family that's been negatively impacted by gun violence."
According to officials, the “Louisville Metro Gun Violence Dashboard” is a comprehensive new reporting tool that will allow the community to see daily reports on gun violence, gunshots, homicides and other fatal crimes in the Metro.
Officials said the dashboard is the product of a year-long collaboration between the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) and the Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods (OSHN). In September 2022, the city hired Dr. Ivan Benitez. He's gathered police data from 2010 to now. That's what policy-makers and metro offices use to influence their decisions.
"Once I had the aggregate list of homicides, non-fatal shootings, we knew exactly what we were working with," he said. "So after that, it was more of organizing the data in a fashionable way that could be presented publicly but also anonymously when it comes to victims of gun violence."
Those victims, according to the data, are most often young black men.
The dashboard's an accessible tool community groups can use to plan their responses to violence. Paul Callanan, director for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods, said it helps pinpoint when certain crimes are most likely to occur so they can schedule staff accordingly.
"For example," he said, "our community violence intervention partners can use the information to determine the most effective and efficient staffing patterns when implementing violence interruption strategies."
It's funded by a $100,000 grant from the national Everytown for Safety Support Fund with additional support from the American Rescue Plan.
How does it work?
The dashboard uses data from Mark 43, which is LMPD’s record management system, and can show data on a variety of crimes.
“For example, it will show maps and trends on where shots are fired, where homicides and non-fatal shootings happen, literal neighborhood and block reports, and historic, comparative, and detailed data starting from the year 2010,” a spokesperson for OSHN said in a statement.
The dashboard, which is updated daily, can also provide anonymized information on victims of gun violence and trend reports.
According to OSHN, the new tool can even provide reports on questions like what is shown as the likeliest or most common times and/or days for violence in various areas in Louisville.
Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.
Have a news tip? Email assign@whas11.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.