Privacy Policy

Last Updated: February 22, 2024

Data for Community Trust is a project of Innovate Policy Lab d/b/a “Research Improving People’s Lives” (“RIPL”), a Rhode Island non-profit corporation.

The Data for Community Trust project is intended to provide access to information about police activities and public safety in Hazel Crest.

This project aims to give residents and others access to data to be informed about incidents taking place in the community and learn about policing activities and interactions in the community.

By visiting and using this website, including its subpages, and all content, data, and services available on this website (collectively, the “Website”), you are agreeing to this privacy policy (this “Policy”). If you do not agree to this Policy, you should not access the Website.

We’ve developed this Policy to describe (1) how we collect, use, transfer, and store information of individuals in connection with the Website; (2) your choices regarding your personal information; and (3) how we ensure your privacy.

This Policy is also incorporated into and forms a part of the Data for Community Trust Terms of Use.

Modifications

This Policy may also be updated from time to time. Your continued use of the Website following any such changes constitutes your agreement to such changes.

Accessibility

We endeavor to make the Website, including this Policy, accessible to individuals with disabilities. Please note, however, that we may not have control over some data visualizations (e.g., charts and graphic representations of data) provided by our third-party partners. If you are having trouble accessing the Website or this Policy, please contact us as provided below.

Your Personal Information

As used this Policy, the term “personal information” means information that identifies, relates to, describes, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked with a particular data subject, consumer, or household.

Personal information includes information such as real names, postal addresses, email addresses, and social security numbers, but it may also include unique identifiers, geolocation data, or internet or other network activity (such as browsing history, search history, etc.).

In connection with making the Website available, we will collect and process personal information of individuals who reside in Hazel Crest or are otherwise involved in any Hazel Crest Police Department investigation or other activities.

However, information is only made publicly available through the Website on an aggregate, non-identifiable basis.

Information Collected from the Hazel Crest Police Department

This site consumes data from the Hazel Crest Police Department on individuals involved in Crime, Calls for Service, Traffic Stops, and Police Officer uses of force. Within these categories we obtain personal identifiable information as outlined below. All of these data are deidentified and in some cases aggregated before made available on the site. We also collect deidentified demographic level information including race and sex.

The underlying de-identified data tables driving visualizations displayed on the website can be exported by users of the website and Tableau Public. Data consumed from the police department is accessible by RIPL, the Hazel Crest Police Department, and our third-party service providers, including web hosting and information security providers.

Individual-Level Information

The following types of information may be made available for individual incidents on the website. Please note that not all of these variables may be made available.

Aggregated Information

The following types of information are available at an aggregated level for the website and supporting data visualizations, meaning that a summary of one or more calls is available without the details of each individual call:

Browsing Information

If you browse through this Website to read, print, or download information, we may also automatically collect certain navigational information, including without limitation domain from which you access the internet, Internet Protocol (IP) address, operating system on your computer and information about the browser you used when visiting the site, date and time of your visit, pages you visited, address of the website that connected you to the website, clicks, and other interaction data for the purpose of analytics and website monitoring.

Data for Community Trust (DCT) Website Privacy Principles

No Active Calls and Time Delay

The website protects the privacy of parties involved in active calls by only displaying information for calls that have an incident report and that occurred before midnight of the previous day.

Public Records Availability

The website automates and improves access to information that would otherwise be available through a public records request. Information that is unavailable through a public records request under federal or state law is also unavailable on the website.

Suppressed Information

Unlike a public records request, this website can be accessed anonymously. To protect the privacy of parties involved in sensitive matters, the following information is suppressed:

• Locations of domestic, medical, and mental health calls are omitted
• Officer information is redacted
• Individual-level information is redacted for incidents involving juveniles under the age of 18

Geolocation Information

To protect the residential privacy of parties involved, Website provides latitude and longitude at a lower precision (>100 meters) than is available in official records.

How We Share Your Information

Navigational, usage, or analytics data is shared with Hazel Crest Police Department, and RIPL’s contracting partners.

We may also use and share your information as reasonably necessary to comply with law or a legal process (including a court or government order or subpoena); to detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues; to enforce the Terms of Use and this Policy; to protect the rights, property or safety of the State of Illinois, the City of Hazel Crest, our users, and/or the public; or otherwise with your express consent.

How We Store and Secure Your Information

RIPL uses reasonable security measures in an effort to prevent loss, misuse, and alteration of information under our control. However, we cannot guarantee the security of information on or transmitted via the Internet. Please note, additionally, that we have no control over the security of other sites you might visit.

Cookie Policy

A cookie is a small piece of data that a website asks your browser to store on your computer or mobile device. The cookie allows the website to “remember” your actions or preferences over time. Most browsers support cookies, but users can set their browsers to decline them and can delete them whenever they like. We use the following types of cookies on our site.

Security

We use cookies to enable and support our security features, and to help us detect malicious activity.

Preferences, Features and Services

Cookies can tell us which settings you prefer. They can help you fill out forms on our sites more easily. They also provide you with features, insights, and customized content.

Performance, Analytics and Research

Cookies help us track how well we are performing. We also use cookies to understand, improve, and research features and services, including to create logs and record when you access websites from different devices, such as your computer or your mobile device.

Persistent cookies can be removed by following your web browser’s directions. A session cookie is temporary and disappears after you close your browser.

You can reset your web browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, some features of our sites may not function properly if the ability to accept cookies is disabled.

Do Not Track

Some browsers have a “do not track” feature that lets you tell websites you do not want to have your online activities tracked across various websites. We do not track your activities across other websites.

Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about this Policy or any matters related to your personal information, you can contact us at: info@hazelcrest.dataforcommunitytrust.org