Open Policing Data Hub

Quick start

Base URL: /api/v1. All responses are JSON with a { data, meta } envelope. List endpoints paginate with limit and cursor (from meta.next_cursor).

curl "https://YOUR-HOST/api/v1/agencies?state=TX&limit=5"
curl "https://YOUR-HOST/api/v1/agencies/TX2200100/trends"
curl "https://YOUR-HOST/api/v1/search?q=burglary&kind=guides"

Access is open — no key needed. Optionally send X-API-Key to identify your client and raise your rate limit; request a key here. Data is served from versioned snapshots — check meta.generated_at and cite the original sources (FBI CDE, BJS, publishing agencies).

GET/api/v1/meta

API and dataset metadata

Dataset inventory with record counts and snapshot timestamps, plus links to documentation.

GET/api/v1/guides

List POP guides

Problem, response, and tool guides.

Param	In	Description
q	query	Text match on title, author, description, agency.
type	query	Exact resource type, e.g. 'Problem Guide'.
year	query
limit	query	Page size (default 25, max 100).
cursor	query	Cursor from meta.next_cursor.

GET/api/v1/guides/{id}

Get a guide

Full guide record with markdown and HTML URLs.

Param	In	Description
id*	path

GET/api/v1/projects

List POP projects

Conference submissions and case studies.

Param	In	Description
q	query
agency	query	Substring match on agency name.
country	query
year	query
limit	query	Page size (default 25, max 100).
cursor	query	Cursor from meta.next_cursor.

GET/api/v1/projects/{id}

Get a project

Full project record, including the matched agency ORI when known.

Param	In	Description
id*	path

GET/api/v1/agencies

List agencies

Compact directory rows for ~19,000 US law enforcement agencies. Always paginated.

Param	In	Description
state	query	Two-letter state abbreviation.
q	query	Substring match on name or county.
type	query	Agency type, e.g. 'City'.
has_trends	query	Only agencies with trend snapshots.
limit	query	Page size (default 25, max 100).
cursor	query	Cursor from meta.next_cursor.

GET/api/v1/agencies/{ori}

Get an agency

Full enriched record: directory data, NIBRS status, LEMAS staffing history, policy portal, open data links, POP submissions.

Param	In	Description
ori*	path	FBI Originating Agency Identifier, e.g. TX2200100.

GET/api/v1/agencies/{ori}/trends

Agency crime trends

Violent crime, property crime, and police employment year series (snapshot subset).

Param	In	Description
ori*	path	FBI Originating Agency Identifier, e.g. TX2200100.

GET/api/v1/agencies/{ori}/nibrs

Agency NIBRS snapshot

Incident-based detail (victims, offenders, relationships, weapons, locations) over complete calendar years for eight offense categories, aggregated from FBI CDE bulk extracts.

Param	In	Description
ori*	path	FBI Originating Agency Identifier, e.g. TX2200100.

GET/api/v1/agencies/{ori}/similar

Comparable agencies

Precomputed nearest neighbors by size, crime mix, rates, and staffing within the same agency class (cosine over z-scored warehouse metrics).

Param	In	Description
ori*	path	FBI Originating Agency Identifier, e.g. TX2200100.

GET/api/v1/agencies/search

Structured agency search

Filter agencies by population served, crime-rate percentile bands, type, state, NIBRS participation, and open-data availability. Rate filters need the live data service; otherwise the response degrades to directory filters (mode: 'degraded').

Param	In	Description
state	query	Two-letter state abbreviation.
type	query	Agency type, e.g. 'City' or 'University or College'.
pop_min	query	Minimum population served.
pop_max	query	Maximum population served.
metric	query	Rate metric, e.g. property_rate_per_1k, bur_victims_per_1k_yr.
band	query	Percentile band for the chosen metric. One of: low, typical, high, very-high.
nibrs	query
open_data	query	Only agencies with confirmed open-data holdings.
sort	query	One of: population, metric, name.
order	query	One of: asc, desc.
limit	query	Page size (default 25, max 100).
cursor	query	Cursor from meta.next_cursor.

GET/api/v1/sources

List open data sources

Curated source registry with provenance.

Param	In	Description
state	query
dataset_type	query	Taxonomy value, e.g. USE_OF_FORCE.
source_class	query	e.g. api, csv, socrata.
limit	query	Page size (default 25, max 100).
cursor	query	Cursor from meta.next_cursor.

GET/api/v1/sources/{id}

Get a source

Full registry entry.

Param	In	Description
id*	path

GET/api/v1/policies

List policy portals

Public police policy portal directory.

Param	In	Description
state	query
q	query	Substring match on agency or jurisdiction.
limit	query	Page size (default 25, max 100).
cursor	query	Cursor from meta.next_cursor.

GET/api/v1/datasets

List datasets

Downloadable dataset files.

GET/api/v1/search

Search everything

Lexical search across guides, projects, agencies, sources, policy documents, and datasets.

Param	In	Description
q*	query
kind	query	One of: guides, projects, agencies, sources, policies, datasets.
limit	query

API Documentation