Understanding San Francisco's emergency services data

An overview of emergency services data on the Open Data Portal. This resource page includes information on 911 calls, and incident reports for Emergency Medical Services, Fire and Police.

Introduction

Some of the most popular datasets on the Open Data Portal are in the emergency services and criminal justice space. Many departments help produce this data such as Department of Emergency Management, Police, Fire, and the District Attorney. This resource collection is not exhaustive but highlights key datasets and concepts related to criminal justice. But first, two key concepts:

Computer Aided Dispatch ("CAD") Number

A CAD number is the unique identifier for a row in the Computer Aided Dispatch system. For example, calling 9-1-1 would generate a new CAD number. Often, CAD data can be joined together using the CAD number as a key.

Incident Number

An incident number is the unique identifier of an incident report. For police, these reports are filed by officers or self-reported by members of the public using SFPD’s online reporting system. The fire department has a separate system for incident reports. Often, emergency services data can be joined together using the CAD number or incident number as a key.

Resources

Calls for service (911 calls)

Law Enforcement Dispatched Calls for Service: Closed

This dataset contains 911 calls directed to law enforcement where an officer is dispatched. It updates overnight and includes only 'closed' calls. Each row has a CAD number, which can be joined to police incidents if an incident report is created.

Law Enforcement Dispatched Calls for Service: Real-Time

This dataset contains 911 calls directed to law enforcement where an officer is dispatched. This dataset updates every 10 minutes but only stores the last 48 hours of data.

Fire Department and Emergency Medical Services Dispatched Calls for Service

This dataset contains all fire units' responses to 911 calls from the city's Computer-Aided Dispatch (“CAD”) system. This includes responses to Medical Incidents requiring EMS staff.

Incident Reports

Fire Incidents includes a summary of each (non-medical) incident to which the SF Fire Department responded. It includes a description of the incident and how many units responded. In addition to a CAD number (called "call number" in this dataset), it also contains an incident number

Police Department Incident Reports: 2018 to Present

Each row in this dataset is a report that was filed by officers or self-reported by members of the public using SFPD’s online reporting system. It contains information on the incident such as the category, subcategory, and description. In addition to a CAD number (called "call number" in this dataset), it also contains an incident number which can be joined to District Attorney case data.

Historical Police Department Incident Reports (2003-2018)

As of May 2018, the feed from the legacy mainframe CABLE was discontinued making way for the new police incidents dataset. This is the historical police incident data associated with the old system.

Other relevant data

District Attorney Actions Taken on Arrests Presented

This dataset includes information on every arrest that has been presented to the SFDA since 2011 and the “action” decision made by the office on each, based on data from the SFDA’s internal case management system. The data can be linked to a police incident using the incident_number field.

District Attorney Cases Prosecuted

This dataset includes information on all cases presented to the District Attorney’s Office in which the office has taken action to prosecute a case, either by filing new criminal charges or by filing a motion to revoke probation or parole (MTR). The data can be linked to a police incident using the incident_number field.

District Attorney Case Resolutions

This data set includes all criminal cases prosecuted by the District Attorney’s Office that have reached a final resolution, or disposition. The data can be linked to a police incident using the incident_number field.