BPD Field Interrogation and Observation (FIO)

The FIO program encompasses a wide range of interactions between the Boston Police Department (BPD) and private individuals. By releasing the records of these interactions, BPD hopes to add transparency to the execution of the program while still protecting the privacy of the individuals involved. These records are now sourced from three different record management systems titled: (OLD RMS) (NEW RMS) and (MARK43). The differences between the resulting files are described below.

About the FIO Records (Mark43) Files (Sept 29 - Dec 31 2023)

These records are compiled from the BPD’s new Records Management System (RMS) on the BPD's FIO program. MARK43 went live September 29, 2019 and the FIO information has been structured into two separate tables. These tables are the same titles as (NEW RMS) but include new or different data points as retrieved from MARK43.

  • FieldContact, which lists each contact between BPD and one or more individuals
  • FieldContact_Name, which lists each individual involved in these contacts.

A FIO Data Key has also been created and posted to help distinguish the data categories (Data Key (Mark43)).

Lastly, FIOs are maintained in a live database and information related to each individual may change overtime. The data provided here should be considered a static representation of the Field Interaction and/or Observation that occurred in 2019.

NULL indicates no entry was made for an optional field.

About the FIO Records 2015 (New RMS) and 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 (Jan 1 - Sept 29 2020) Files

These records are compiled from the BPD’s new Records Management System (RMS) on the BPD's FIO program. The new RMS, which went live in June, 2015, structures the FIO information into two separate tables:

  • FieldContact, which lists each contact between BPD and one or more individuals
  • FieldContact_Name, which lists each individual involved in these contacts

While these two tables align on the field contact number (fc_num) column, it is not methodologically correct to join the two datasets for the purpose of generating aggregate statistics on columns from the FieldContact table. Doing so would lead to incorrect estimates stemming from contacts with multiple individuals. As noted in the Data Key (New RMS) file, several of the columns in the FieldContact table apply to the contact as a whole, but may not necessarily apply to each individual involved in the contact. These include:

  • frisked
  • searchperson
  • summonsissued
  • circumstances
  • basis
  • contact_reason

For example, the frisked column contains a value of Y if any of the individuals involved in a contact were frisked, but it would be inaccurate to assume that all individuals were frisked during that contact. As such, extrapolating from the frisked column for a contact to each individual and then summing across them would give an artificially high estimate of the number of people frisked in total. Likewise, the summonsissued column indicates when someone involved in a contact was issued a summons, but this does not imply that everyone involved in a contact was issued a summons.

For a detailed listing of columns in each table, see both tables of the Data Key (New RMS) file below.

About the FIO Records 2011 - 2015 (Old RMS) File

These records are sourced from BPD's older RMS, which was retired in June, 2015. This system (which stored all records in a single table, rather than the two tables in the newer system) captures similar information to the new RMS, but users should note that the fields are not identical and exercise care when comparing or combining records from each system.

Additional Notes

  • The data provided is FIO information entered into the new system from June, 2015 through December, 2016, which includes some interactions which occurred before June, 2015 which were entered after the transition from the old system. For comprehensive analyses of interactions prior to the introduction of the new RMS, users will need to include data on interactions prior to June, 2015 from the 2015 (New RMS) file.
  • These files are extracted from live databases which may have records added or updated at any time. As such, the number and content of records shared here may differ slightly from versions used to produce analyses such as those linked below, due to subsequent revisions to the underlying database records.
  • A contact can consist of an observation of a vehicle, without direct contact with a person. This would create a record where no person-level details are recorded.

For more information on the FIO Program, please visit:

Boston Police Commissioner Announces Field Interrogation and Observation (FIO) Study Results

Commissioner Evans Continues Efforts to Increase Transparency and Accountability of Policing Activities to the Public

Boston Police Department Releases Latest Field Interrogation Observation Data

Data and Resources

Tags

Additional Info

Title BPD Field Interrogation and Observation (FIO)
Type Tabular
Description

The FIO program encompasses a wide range of interactions between the Boston Police Department (BPD) and private individuals. By releasing the records of these interactions, BPD hopes to add transparency to the execution of the program while still protecting the privacy of the individuals involved. These records are now sourced from three different record management systems titled: (OLD RMS) (NEW RMS) and (MARK43). The differences between the resulting files are described below.

About the FIO Records (Mark43) Files (Sept 29 - Dec 31 2023)

These records are compiled from the BPD’s new Records Management System (RMS) on the BPD's FIO program. MARK43 went live September 29, 2019 and the FIO information has been structured into two separate tables. These tables are the same titles as (NEW RMS) but include new or different data points as retrieved from MARK43.

  • FieldContact, which lists each contact between BPD and one or more individuals
  • FieldContact_Name, which lists each individual involved in these contacts.

A FIO Data Key has also been created and posted to help distinguish the data categories (Data Key (Mark43)).

Lastly, FIOs are maintained in a live database and information related to each individual may change overtime. The data provided here should be considered a static representation of the Field Interaction and/or Observation that occurred in 2019.

NULL indicates no entry was made for an optional field.

About the FIO Records 2015 (New RMS) and 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 (Jan 1 - Sept 29 2020) Files

These records are compiled from the BPD’s new Records Management System (RMS) on the BPD's FIO program. The new RMS, which went live in June, 2015, structures the FIO information into two separate tables:

  • FieldContact, which lists each contact between BPD and one or more individuals
  • FieldContact_Name, which lists each individual involved in these contacts

While these two tables align on the field contact number (fc_num) column, it is not methodologically correct to join the two datasets for the purpose of generating aggregate statistics on columns from the FieldContact table. Doing so would lead to incorrect estimates stemming from contacts with multiple individuals. As noted in the Data Key (New RMS) file, several of the columns in the FieldContact table apply to the contact as a whole, but may not necessarily apply to each individual involved in the contact. These include:

  • frisked
  • searchperson
  • summonsissued
  • circumstances
  • basis
  • contact_reason

For example, the frisked column contains a value of Y if any of the individuals involved in a contact were frisked, but it would be inaccurate to assume that all individuals were frisked during that contact. As such, extrapolating from the frisked column for a contact to each individual and then summing across them would give an artificially high estimate of the number of people frisked in total. Likewise, the summonsissued column indicates when someone involved in a contact was issued a summons, but this does not imply that everyone involved in a contact was issued a summons.

For a detailed listing of columns in each table, see both tables of the Data Key (New RMS) file below.

About the FIO Records 2011 - 2015 (Old RMS) File

These records are sourced from BPD's older RMS, which was retired in June, 2015. This system (which stored all records in a single table, rather than the two tables in the newer system) captures similar information to the new RMS, but users should note that the fields are not identical and exercise care when comparing or combining records from each system.

Additional Notes

  • The data provided is FIO information entered into the new system from June, 2015 through December, 2016, which includes some interactions which occurred before June, 2015 which were entered after the transition from the old system. For comprehensive analyses of interactions prior to the introduction of the new RMS, users will need to include data on interactions prior to June, 2015 from the 2015 (New RMS) file.
  • These files are extracted from live databases which may have records added or updated at any time. As such, the number and content of records shared here may differ slightly from versions used to produce analyses such as those linked below, due to subsequent revisions to the underlying database records.
  • A contact can consist of an observation of a vehicle, without direct contact with a person. This would create a record where no person-level details are recorded.

For more information on the FIO Program, please visit:

Boston Police Commissioner Announces Field Interrogation and Observation (FIO) Study Results

Commissioner Evans Continues Efforts to Increase Transparency and Accountability of Policing Activities to the Public

Boston Police Department Releases Latest Field Interrogation Observation Data

Publisher Department of Innovation and Technology
Temporal from 2011-01-01
Temporal to 2023-12-31
Temporal notes This dataset primarily contains interactions which occurred between 2011 and 2023. A small number of records contain dates outside this range.
Theme Public safety
Location Boston (all)
Contact point Boston Police Department
Contact point email [email protected]
License Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and License (PDDL)