Building A Civic Tool for Community-Police Engagement to Adapt Neighborhood Policing

2026-10-06

AI Summary

This study addresses the trust crisis between police and communities exacerbated by data-driven policing approaches that neglect residents’ lived experiences. Employing a Research through Design (RtD) methodology combined with mixed-methods evaluation, this work proposes a cross-boundary interaction design framework to facilitate multi-stakeholder negotiation and collaboration. Specifically, we developed a civic technology tool integrating community and incident data, augmented by physical probes and a digital visualization dashboard prototype. Findings indicate that the system effectively increased police-community interactions and reshaped participatory engagement patterns, although sustaining long-term collaboration remains challenged by frictional dynamics. This paper contributes an innovative interaction design pathway for rebuilding police-community trust through multi-party synergistic practices, offering actionable insights for participatory civic technologies.

Abstract

Data-driven policing often prioritizes incident records over residents' lived experiences. In the Baltic city of Riga, with a history of distrust and limited community-police engagement, this can further alienate the public. To bridge this gap, we propose a Research through Design (RtD) inquiry into the development of Par drošu Rīgu, a civic tool for community-data-integrated policing. With municipal police, NGOs, and city staff, we ask how RtD enables stakeholder negotiation and which interaction qualities support trust and the use of combined community and incident data. The co-design process included workshops that surfaced divergent notions of safety; material probes designed as boundary objects to negotiate among stakeholders; and a pilot deployment showing how combining quantitative and qualitative data reshapes engagement and trust. Mixed-methods evaluation suggests increased officer-citizen interaction, but frictions in sustaining stakeholder collaboration. We contribute (i) an empirical RtD inquiry with public institutions, (ii) an artifact combining physical and dashboard interactions, and (iii) reflections on interaction design as a boundary-spanning practice for trust and infrastructuring.

Problem

• data-driven policing
• community-police engagement
• public trust
• civic technology
• stakeholder negotiation

Innovation

• Research through Design
• Data-driven policing
• Boundary objects
• Interaction design
• Co-design