# Record Types taxonomy
{% hint style="info" %}
We use the `tags` property to add color to a Data Source if there's not a specific enough Record Type.
{% endhint %}
## Police & public interactions
| record\_type | description | example |
| -------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Accident Reports | Records of vehicle accidents, sometimes published so that people involved in an accident can look up the police report. | |
| Arrest Records | Records of each arrest made in the agency's jurisdiction. | |
| Calls for Service | Records of officers initiating activity or responding to requests for police response. Often called "Dispatch Logs" or "Incident Reports" when published. | |
| Car GPS | Records of police car location. Not generally posted online. | none found |
| Citations | Records of low-level criminal offenses where a police officer issued a citation instead of an arrest. | |
| Dispatch Logs | Records of calls or orders made by police dispatchers. | |
| Dispatch Recordings | Audio feeds and/or archives of municipal dispatch channels. | |
| Field Contacts | Reports of contact between police and civilians. May include uses of force, incidents, arrests, or contacts where nothing notable happened. | |
| Incident Reports | Reports made by police officers after responding to a call which may or may not be criminal in nature. Not generally posted online. | |
| Misc Police Activity | Records or descriptions of police activity not covered by other record types. | |
| Officer Involved Shootings | Case files of gun violence where a police officer was involved, typically as the shooter. Detailed, often containing references to records like Media Bulletins and Use of Force Reports. | |
| Stops | Records of pedestrian or traffic stops made by police. | |
| Surveys | Information captured from a sample of some population, like incarcerated people or magistrate judges. Often generated independently. | |
| Use of Force Reports | Records of use of force against civilians by police officers. | |
| Vehicle Pursuits | Records of cases where police pursued a person fleeing in a vehicle. | |
## Info about officers
| record\_type | description | example |
| ----------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Complaints & Misconduct | Records, statistics, or summaries of complaints and misconduct investigations into law enforcement officers. | |
| Daily Activity Logs | Officer-created reports or time sheets of what happened on a shift. Not generally posted online. | none found |
| Training & Hiring Info | Records and descriptions of additional training for police officers. | |
| Personnel Records | Records of hiring and firing, certification, discipline, and other officer-specific events. Not generally posted online. | |
## Info about agencies
| record\_type | description | example |
| -------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Annual & Monthly Reports | Often in PDF form, featuring summaries or high-level updates about the police force. Can contain versions of other record types, especially summaries. | |
| Budgets & Finances | Budgets, finances, grants, or other financial documents. | |
| Contact Info & Agency Meta | Information about organizational structure, including department structure and contact info. | |
| Geographic | Maps or geographic data about how land is divided up into municipal sectors, zones, and jurisdictions. | |
| List of Data Sources | Places on the internet, often data portal homepages, where many links to potential data sources can be found. | |
| Policies & Contracts | Policies or contracts related to agency procedure. | |
## Agency-published resources
| record\_type | description | example |
| --------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Crime Maps & Reports | Records of individual crimes in map or table form for a given jurisdiction. | |
| Crime Statistics | Summarized information about crime in a given jurisdiction. | |
| Media Bulletins | Press releases, blotters, or blogs intended to broadly communicate alerts, requests, or other timely information. | |
| Records Request Info | Portals, forms, policies, or other resources for making public records requests. | |
| Resources | Agency-provided information or guidance about services, prices, best practices, etc. | |
| Sex Offender Registry | Index of people registered, usually by law, with the government as sex offenders. | |
| Wanted Persons | Names, descriptions, images, and associated information about people with outstanding arrest warrants. | |
## Jails & Courts specific
{% hint style="info" %}
Other record types can describe jails and courts, especially from the "info about agencies" category.
{% endhint %}
| record\_type | description | example |
| --------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Booking Reports | Records of booking or intake into corrections institutions. | |
| Court Cases | Records such as dockets about individual court cases. | |
| Incarceration Records | Records of current inmates, often with full names and features for notification upon inmate release. | |
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