If you're going to use our data to understand what's happening in Bellingham, you should know exactly where it comes from, how we handle it, and where the gaps are. This post is our transparency commitment.
If you're new here, start with Welcome to Civic Informer, Bellingham.
What This Data Is
Our Source
Every data point on Civic Informer comes from incident reports published by the Bellingham Police Department.
These are formal incident reports: documented events that BPD has recorded and made public. Not 911 calls, not tips, not rumors, not social media posts.
We collect this data daily through an automated process. Each morning, the prior day's published reports are processed and added to our system.
How We Process It
Each incident goes through several steps before it appears on the site:
- Raw data is collected from BPD's published records
- Location addresses are geocoded, matched to coordinates and assigned to a Bellingham neighborhood
- Offense codes are categorized: approximately 127 individual BPD offense codes are mapped into standardized categories
- Each incident is flagged as violent or non-violent based on offense type
- Daily aggregate statistics are computed: totals, category breakdowns, neighborhood rankings, hourly distribution, arrest data
What We Track Per Incident
- Case number (BPD's unique identifier)
- Date and time reported
- Offense (raw offense from BPD)
- Category (our standardized grouping)
- Violent/non-violent classification
- Location (block-level, not exact address)
- Neighborhood
- Description (as published by BPD)
How We Present It
We turn that processed data into several tools you can use:
- Daily reports with charts, tables, and the full incident log
- An interactive map where you can filter incidents by category, time of day, arrest status, and neighborhood
- Weekly and monthly trend summaries
- Neighborhood rankings with 30-day trends
- A free daily email newsletter with a condensed version of the day's data
What This Data Isn't
Not Real-Time
Reports cover the prior day's activity, published each morning. This is by design. We prioritize accuracy and completeness over speed.
A few incident reports may be updated or added after initial publication; our next-morning approach captures a more complete picture than real-time reporting would.
Not Call Data
We reflect incident reports, not every call to 911 or dispatch. An incident report means BPD formally documented an event. Many calls for service don't result in an incident report. This means our data represents a subset of all police activity, not the full picture.
We are actively working to integrate call-for-service data, which will provide a more complete view of police activity in Bellingham.
Incident reports represent events BPD has formally documented. Call data, which includes all dispatches and service calls, is a separate dataset we're working to add.
Not a Decision-Maker
Civic Informer presents data as published by BPD. We are not saying anyone is guilty. We are not making legal claims. We are not recommending actions.
When an arrest appears in our data, it reflects a police action, not a conviction or determination of guilt. Cases may be dismissed, charges may change, and outcomes may differ from what the initial report suggests.
We organize information so you can draw your own conclusions. What you do with this data, whether that's making neighborhood decisions, attending a city council meeting, or simply staying informed, is up to you.
An arrest reported in our data does not imply guilt. It reflects a police action, not a legal outcome.
Not Complete
Our data only includes incidents BPD has recorded and published. Unreported activity isn't captured. Some incident types are underreported by nature, particularly domestic incidents and certain property crimes where victims don't file reports.
Higher incident counts in a neighborhood often reflect commercial activity, nightlife, or population density, not necessarily that the area is less safe.
Not Editorial
We don't interpret what the data "means" for policy. We don't take positions on policing, funding, or enforcement strategy. That's your job as a resident, voter, or community member.
Our analysis focuses on patterns and context: is this week busier than average? Which categories are trending up or down? What time of day sees the most activity? The conclusions are yours to draw.
What We're Working Toward
- Call data integration: adding BPD dispatch and call-for-service data for a more complete picture of police activity
- Improved geocoding: continuously refining location accuracy for Bellingham addresses
- More historical context: building deeper baselines for seasonal and year-over-year comparisons
Why This Transparency Matters
Data without context is noise. A busy day during a holiday weekend reads differently than a busy day in February. A neighborhood with high incident counts near a commercial district means something different than the same number in a residential area.
We include tools to help you find that context: rolling averages, seasonal comparisons, neighborhood-level detail, time-of-day breakdowns. A single number never tells the whole story. We'd rather you trust our data and draw your own conclusions than see us sensationalize it.
Our Commitment
When we get something wrong, a miscategorization, a data gap, a broken chart, we'll say so. Publicly, here on this blog.
If you spot something that doesn't look right, or have questions about our methodology, reach out through the contact page or reply to any daily email.
For a complete walkthrough of the platform, read How To Use Civic Informer, Bellingham. For details on the daily email and web report, see Understanding Your Daily Briefing.