Tracking the Pulse of Detroit Neighborhoods

2025-03-30

“Awareness is the first step toward change.”

That’s the philosophy behind this new feature I’m building into the public safety platform for Detroit.

Why This Feature Matters

While building this crime dashboard, I realized something was missing: a way for everyday citizens and neighborhood patrol groups to track not just crimes — but the conditions and response patterns of their specific communities.

Detroit is a city of neighborhoods. Each one has its own rhythm, its own challenges, and its own stories. Yet too often, these areas are lumped together or overlooked entirely in broader public data.

This update is my attempt to fix that — to give Detroiters a tool to monitor, compare, and prioritize neighborhoods based on what’s really happening on the ground.

What It Looks Like

Detroit Neighborhood Dashboard

What you’re seeing here is a neighborhood-focused dashboard that lets users:

  • 🎯 Select a neighborhood from a searchable dropdown list
  • 📈 View real-time 911 stats for that neighborhood
  • ⏱️ Track average EMS response time
  • 🧭 See call volume by category, helping patrol groups focus their efforts

Whether you're part of a community watch, a local nonprofit, or just a concerned neighbor — this makes it easier to stay informed and proactive.

What Problems This Solves

Neighborhood safety is more than just knowing what crimes happened — it’s about context:

  • Are response times improving or getting worse?
  • Which neighborhoods have the highest volume of emergency calls?
  • Is a specific area facing repeated property crimes, domestic incidents, or public disturbances?

By visualizing this data, we’re giving communities the insight to organize smarter, push for change, and protect one another.

What’s Coming Next

Here’s what I’m planning to build next:

  • 🕐 Historical trends to track neighborhoods over time
  • 🚨 Real-time alerts for spikes in calls or delayed responses
  • 🧠 Neighborhood health scoring, factoring in volume, response, and recurring patterns
  • 📱 Mobile-friendly views so patrols can check data on the go

Ultimately, this is about giving people the tools to act — not just react.

Let’s Work Together

If you’re a:

  • Detroit resident who wants to make their block safer
  • Developer who wants to contribute to civic tech
  • Organizer or patrol group leader looking for better data

Let’s connect. Your feedback helps me build something that actually serves the community.

This is just one step in a much larger journey toward building a transparent, responsive public safety platform. I’ll be sharing more about how this system works — and how you can get involved — in upcoming posts.