Every morning, Civic Informer publishes two versions of Bellingham's public safety data: a concise email newsletter and a full interactive report on the web. They cover the same day, but they're built for different moments in your routine. The email is a quick scan over coffee. The website is where you go when something catches your eye and you want the full picture.
This guide walks through both, section by section, so you know exactly what you're looking at and how to read it.
If you're new to Civic Informer, start with Welcome to Civic Informer, Bellingham.
The Newsletter: Your Inbox Briefing
The email is designed to scan in under two minutes. It hits the key numbers, the busiest areas, and a few analytical observations, then gets out of your way. Here's what each section contains.
Map and Quick Stats
At the top of every email, you'll see a static heatmap image showing where incidents occurred across Bellingham, color-coded by type.
- Blue: nonviolent incident
- Dark blue: nonviolent incident with an arrest
- Orange: violent incident
- Red: violent incident with an arrest
Below the map, there's a link to the full interactive map, where you can filter by category, zoom into neighborhoods, and click individual incidents for details.
Incident Breakdown
This section opens with three stat tiles:
- Reports: the total number of incidents logged that day
- Peak Hour: the single busiest hour and how many incidents fell within it
- Nonviolent %: the share of all incidents classified as nonviolent
Each stat includes two comparison numbers: the change from the prior day and the change from the 30-day rolling average. These are color-coded green (lower than comparison) or red (higher than comparison) so you can quickly see whether the day was busier or quieter than usual.
Below the tiles, you'll find a short editorial paragraph analyzing the day's data, followed by a table showing the top 4 incident categories with their counts and a trend arrow indicating whether each category is up or down compared to recent days.
Where and When
This section is split into two side-by-side panels.
Locations shows the top 4 neighborhoods ranked by incident count, plus a "Hot Block" callout highlighting the single block with the most activity that day. This gives you a quick sense of whether incidents were spread across the city or concentrated in a few areas.
Times breaks the day into four periods: Overnight, Morning, Afternoon, and Evening. Each period shows its incident count, plus a "Peak" callout identifying the busiest hour range. If you're curious whether most activity happened during the day or late at night, this is where to look.
Arrest Breakdown
The arrest section opens with three stat tiles:
- Total Arrests: how many arrests were made that day
- Repeat Offenders: how many of those arrested had prior arrests in the dataset
- 7-Day Total: cumulative arrests over the past week for broader context
Below, you'll see the top 3 arrest categories with count and percentage share, and the top 4 neighborhoods where arrests occurred. An AI-generated paragraph interprets the arrest data, putting the numbers in context.
An arrest does not imply guilt. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Intel Cards
Each email includes 3 AI-generated insight cards. These are contextual observations drawn from the day's data and recent trends. Each card has a tag (like "CIVIC CONTEXT" or "SAFETY ADVISORY"), a title, and a short analysis.
Think of these as the "so what" of the day's numbers. If the incident count is normal but violent incidents are concentrated in one neighborhood, an intel card might flag that. If a category that's usually quiet had an unusual day, you'll see it here.
From BPD
When the Bellingham Police Department has something to share, the email includes a dedicated "From BPD" section. This might be a safety advisory, a community event announcement, or a department update. This content is authored by BPD, not by Civic Informer. Not every edition includes this section; it appears only when BPD has provided content.
The Web Report: The Full Picture
The same day's data, with more depth and interactivity. You can access it from the Bellingham dashboard or browse past editions in the report archive.
Overview Tab
The report opens with a programmatic lead paragraph that summarizes the day in plain English: total incidents, comparison to the prior day, violent crime count, arrest count, top category, top neighborhood, and how it all compares to the 30-day rolling average. You don't need to interpret the charts yourself; the summary does the first pass for you.
Below that, you'll find a larger heatmap with a "View On Live Map" button that opens the full interactive map, plus a category breakdown with charts you can hover over for details.
Categories and Violent Crime
The web report shows the full category breakdown, not just the top 4. Every category that appeared in the day's data is listed with its count and 7-day trend.
There's also a dedicated Violent Crime tab. This includes the violent incident count, the top violent offense type, the arrest rate for violent crimes specifically, which neighborhoods had the highest concentration, and individual cards for each violent incident with available details.
Arrests Detail
The arrests tab expands on what the email shows. You'll see total arrests, unique arrestees, violent arrests, and the arrest rate as a percentage of all incidents. Top arrest categories are listed with counts.
The full arrest table lists every arrest that day: time, offense, category, and neighborhood. If you want to know exactly what happened and where, this is the definitive record.
Neighborhoods and Hourly
Instead of just the top 4, the web report ranks every neighborhood by incident count. You'll also see concentration metrics (how tightly incidents are clustered) and the location return rate (how often the same locations appear day after day).
The hourly distribution chart shows incident counts across all 24 hours, broken into time-of-day quadrants. Peak hour analysis is included with additional context about whether the pattern is typical for that day of the week.
Key Patterns, Trends, and the Full Log
AI-generated pattern insights appear here, similar to the email's intel cards but sometimes with additional observations that benefit from the fuller dataset. Trend comparisons show day-over-day and week-over-week changes.
At the bottom of the report is the complete incident log: every case number, time, offense, category, violent flag, and neighborhood. This is the full public record for that day. Nothing is summarized or omitted.
The email shows the top 4 categories and top 4 neighborhoods. The web report shows all of them, plus the complete incident log, interactive charts, and 7-day trend data.
The Key Difference
The email tells you what happened. The website lets you explore what happened.
The newsletter is a two-minute scan: the key numbers, the top categories, the busiest areas, and a few analytical observations. It's designed for your morning routine.
The web report is the full dataset: every tab, every chart, every incident. It's designed for when something in the email catches your eye and you want to go deeper.
If a number in your email looks unusual, click "View Full Report" at the bottom. That's the bridge between the two.
Reading the Safety Pulse Score
The Safety Pulse Score is a 0-100 composite metric that appears on the Bellingham dashboard. It's designed to give you a single-number summary of the day's public safety activity relative to recent history.
The score combines four weighted components:
- Volume (35 pts): how today's incident count compares to the 30-day baseline. More incidents than usual pushes this component higher.
- Violent share (25 pts): whether violent incidents make up a higher or lower proportion than the 90-day average. A day with more violent incidents relative to total activity scores higher here.
- Spatial concentration (25 pts): whether incidents are clustered in a few areas or spread across the city. High concentration in a small number of neighborhoods raises this score.
- Persistent hot blocks (15 pts): locations that have appeared in the top 10 for 4 or more of the last 7 days. This captures recurring problem areas, not just single-day outliers.
The score translates to a label: Quiet, Below Average, Typical, Above Average, or Elevated.
A high score on a single day doesn't necessarily mean something is wrong. The rolling average and weekly trends give better context. One unusual day in an otherwise quiet week is noise, not a trend. Look at the score over several days before drawing conclusions.
For a deeper look at our methodology and what the data can and can't tell you, read What Our Data Is, and What It Isn't.
Questions?
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You can also reach out through the contact page.
For a walkthrough of every feature on the platform, read How To Use Civic Informer, Bellingham.