Wisconsin DOJ launches new dashboard on state arrests

Listen to this article

By Steve Schuster
[email protected]

Attorney General Josh Kaul announced Tuesday a new dashboarding tool on the Wisconsin Department of Justice website that allows users to explore arrests submitted to the state’s criminal history repository (CCH) by law enforcement agencies across the state.

Kaul said that transparency has been a priority under his administration.

“At DOJ, we strive to make as much data available to the public as possible,” Kaul said, noting that “This new dashboard makes government more transparent and open to the public, while also serving as a great tool for researchers and other members of the public interested in learning more about arrest data in our state.”

The CCH is a fingerprint-based database that contains detailed information including arrests and arrest charges. The database is an accumulation of information submitted by Wisconsin law enforcement agencies and other criminal justice system entities as required by applicable state statutes.

Pursuant to Wisconsin State Statute 165.83(2), Wisconsin law enforcement agencies must submit documentation of all felony and a subset of misdemeanor arrests to the CCH.

According to Kaul, CCH however, accepts documentation of any arrest Wisconsin law enforcement submits.

Some agencies might submit all arrests regardless of the level of severity, while others might only submit felonies and the misdemeanors required by state statute.

Users of the dashboarding tool will be able to view the number of arrests, the number of unique individuals arrested, and arrest rates on both a statewide and county level for whatever timeframe is selected.

User selectable filters related the offense(s) including specific statute, category, subcategory, and whether it was a misdemeanor or felony along with arrestee options can be applied for more exploration.

The dashboarding tool is refreshed weekly and can be found by clicking here.