Durham Neighborhood CompassDurham Neighborhood Compass

Why This is Important

These data show the number of property-related incidents reported by the police department, and so, it directly reflects where policing of property-related incidents occurs. Unreported property-related incidents are not counted in this data (e.g. property-related activities that are not surveilled by the police).

It is useful to track property crimes because property crime impacts perceptions of neighborhood safety and often represents a loss of or damage to private property, which affects investment in communities. Since historic data show that neighborhoods with more residents of color and those with lower income experience more frequent policing, which itself can compromise residents’ safety as well, it’s also useful for communities to be able to track where policing of property crimes is occurring.

About the Data

The property crimes per square mile metric shows the average number of arrests per square mile for property-related crimes by the City of Durham Police. Property crimes include crimes on individual and commercial property. The number of property crimes occurring in each boundary is divided by the area (in square miles) of the boundary, rather than the population. This is intended to control for how crime often happens in areas that are less populated. For more detailed Durham crime reporting visit RAIDS Online.

Source: Durham Police Department and Durham County Sheriff

Additional Resources

ResourceLearn More and Take Action
Durham Beyond PolicingDurham Beyond Policing is a grassroots coalition to divest from policing and prisons and reinvest municipal resources into supporting the health and wellbeing of Black & Brown communities, benefiting all community members in Durham, NC.
Counting Crime: A Lecture on the Politics of Crime Data and Its UsesVideo of a lecture given by Tamara K. Nopper on the politics, history, and methods of counting crime—and who benefits from crime data.
Durham Community Safety & Wellness TaskforceIn 2021, the Durham Community Safety & Wellness Task Force was formed by the governing bodies of the City of Durham, Durham County, and Durham Public Schools Board of Education with a mission to recommend programs to enhance public safety and wellness that rely on community-based prevention, intervention, and re-entry services as alternatives to policing and the criminal legal system.
Durham Police DepartmentThe vision of the Durham Police Department is to be a progressive law enforcement agency committed to reducing crime by providing the best quality of service, fostering public confidence and maintaining the highest standards of excellence as a community partner for positive change.
Durham County Office of the SheriffThe quality of neighborhood life, its safety and welfare comes from the commitment of each of its citizens. The Durham County Sheriff’s Office takes pride in its role as a citizen of the community; partners with its members in the delivery of quality law enforcement services.
Partners Against CrimeThe Partners Against Crime (PAC) program is a community-based volunteer organization that promotes collaboration among police officers, Durham residents, and city and county government officials to find sustainable solutions to community crime problems and quality of life issues.
Mapping Police ViolenceA crowd-sourced data project addressing the issue that law enforcement agencies and the government fail to provide accurate numbers on the number of lives taken at the hands of police. While there have been efforts by the government to document the number of police killings such as the USA National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) or a recent FBI program which has failed to deliver results as of 2021, there is still no way to understand the scope of police violence. They believe the data represented in Mapping Police Violence is the most comprehensive accounting of people killed by police since 2013.
Open Data Policing NCOpen Data Policing NC aggregates, visualizes, and publishes public records related to all known traffic stops to have occurred in North Carolina since January 1, 2002.
RAIDS OnlineAn online portal for viewing custom filters of crime data.
Census TractsCensus Blockgroups

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Data Distribution, 2016

Property Crimes per Square Mile

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