Today, the City of Chicago Office of Inspector General (OIG) has unveiled a public, user-friendly Information Portal on its redesigned website. This portal is an interactive data visualization tool that provides the public with an unprecedented means of engaging and understanding City of Chicago data. The portal dashboards contain over 100 ways for users to visualize city data related to the City‘s budget and staffing, as well as information relating to the Chicago Police Department (CPD).
OIG’s mission to promote economy, effectiveness, efficiency, and integrity in City government is rooted in the core values of accountability and transparency. The Information Portal will operationalize these core values to help build public trust and foster wider public discourse around improving government services. It will also directly enhance the ability of OIG and City officials to identify operational issues and improve outcomes through the identification of trends and patterns in City operations. Therefore, the portal will be accessed and engaged as a resource to all civic stakeholders, including the community, public policymakers, advocates, academic researchers, and journalists.
Dashboards available on the Information Portal include:
- City of Chicago Employees by Department, Title, Wage, Demographics, and Ward/Community
- City of Chicago Shakman Exempt Employee by Department, Title, Demographics, and Ward/Community
- CPD Active Sworn Officers by Title, Unit, and Demographics
- Officer Investigatory Stop Reports by Beat, District, Demographics, and Age
- City of Chicago Operating Budget Overview by Fiscal Year, Functional Category, and Department
“The broken discourse and government stasis at the national level means large municipalities like Chicago must lead the way in mending the fraying fabric of trust-based relationship between government and the people it serves,” said Inspector General Joseph Ferguson. “The foundation for the path to that trust is robust transparency. We hope this Information Portal serves as a platform for that critically needed transparency.”
OIG’s Information Portal also contains an extensive glossary of terms and a feedback feature for the public to request specific details on future dashboards, which OIG will add regularly, starting with CPD Officer Complaint and Notification History on Wednesday, August 22nd. Other examples of dashboards to be released in upcoming months that will allow for interactive visualized summaries of historical and current data include:
- Arrest Analysis
- City of Chicago Employee Overtime
- CPD Tactical Response Reports
- CPD Overtime
- Incorporation of US Census data with existing maps
OIG will launch the Information Portal and provide a walkthrough in a recorded webinar at 10:45am (CST). You can access the Information Portal and webinar at informationportal.igchicago.org.
Follow @ChicagoOIG on Twitter for the latest information on how OIG continues to fight waste, fraud, abuse, and inefficiency in Chicago government.
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The mission of the independent and non-partisan City of Chicago Office of Inspector General (OIG) is to promote economy, effectiveness, efficiency, and integrity by identifying corruption, waste, and mismanagement in City government. OIG is a watchdog for the taxpayers of the City and has jurisdiction to conduct investigations and audits into most aspects of City government. If you see corruption, fraud, or waste of any kind, we need to hear from you. For more information, visit our website at: www.igchicago.org.