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CopDB Documentation

website·Indexed 32 days ago

https://docs.copdb.org

Documentation for CopDB, a system designed to track Cops, Incidents, and Media. Includes guides on adding data through reports, creating records, and performing edits to existing entries.

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What's inside CopDB

  1. Get started with the CopDB application

    The primary interface for exploring police activity and adding data to CopDB is available at app.copdb.org. Users can browse existing data or sign up for an account to contribute information.

  2. Understand CopDB data types and contribution methods

    CopDB manages three primary data types:

    • Cops: Tracks the existence and activity of police officers.
    • Incidents: Tracks specific events or occurrences.
    • Media: Used to attach supporting documents, videos, and images to Cops, Incidents, or both.

    Users can contribute data via two primary methods:

    • Edits: Used to update existing information for a single Cop or Incident.
    • Reports: Used to add entirely new Cops or Incidents to the database.

    All contributions are subject to moderator review and approval before being published, and can be edited after publication.

  3. Add new Cops and Incidents using Reports

    Reports are the primary mechanism for adding new Cops and new Incidents to CopDB. While Reports can reference existing data, they cannot update it; updates to existing records must be done via Edits.

    Report Lifecycle:

    1. Submission: A user fills out and submits a Report.
    2. Review: The Report remains in a pending state where the author can still edit it. Moderators review the submission and may add comments requesting changes.
    3. Approval: Data is only committed to the database once a Moderator approves/publishes the Report.

  4. Upload and link Media in a Report

    The Media section allows uploading files and selectively linking them to the Incident and/or the Cops listed in the Report. This allows for granular association:

    • Cop-only link: Link a photo to a Cop without linking it to the Incident (e.g., a portrait of the officer).
    • Incident-only link: Link a document (like a news story) to the Incident without linking it to specific Cops.
    • Both: Link media to both the Cop and the Incident (e.g., a photo of the officer at the scene).

    Technical Constraints:

    • Video Limit: Maximum video size is 1GB.
    • Processing: All uploaded media has Exif-data stripped. Videos are transcoded for archiving, which may take time for large files.

  5. Update existing data using the Suggest edit feature

    To update existing Cops, Incidents, or Media records, log into the system and click the 'Suggest edit' button located in the bottom right of the specific entity's page. Edits are intended for updating a single entity and the references it points to. If a change involves multiple officers or a new Incident, it should be submitted via a Report instead of an edit.

  6. Create new Cop records in CopDB

    New Cop records are created using the Cop form, which is located within the Cops Section of the Reports page. While the form has no strict technical requirements for submission, Moderators require specific information for approval. Most importantly, you must specify at least one Department where the Cop works or has worked. Submissions for Departments outside of currently supported areas (e.g., outside of Utah as of February 2024) will not be approved due to limited Moderator resources.

  7. Manage Cops within a Report

    The Cops section is used to create new Cop records or link existing Cops to the Incident defined in the Report.

    • Linking Existing Cops: Use the search input to find and add a Cop by name. If an Incident is defined in the Report, these Cops will be automatically linked to that Incident.
    • Creating New Cops: Click the '+ New cop' button and fill out the required fields to create a new record.

  8. Contribute data to CopDB

    CopDB is a community-powered project. To add data, users can create an account at app.copdb.org when sign-ups are open. If sign-ups are closed, users can obtain an invite by joining the project's chat server or contacting the team via email.

  9. Modify Incident records and references

    An Incident Edit allows you to update the details of an Incident (such as Summary and Description) and modify the references it points to, including both Media and Cops.

  10. Modify Cop records and references

    A Cop Edit allows you to update the specific fields of a Cop record (such as Name and Department history) and modify which pieces of Media the Cop references.

  11. Modify Media records and references

    A Media Edit allows you to update the Media's own fields (such as Name) and modify which Cops and/or Incidents the media references.

  12. Configure the Incident section of a Report

    The Incident section is used to create a new Incident. It can be left blank if the goal is only to add Cops.

    • Required Fields: A Summary (headline) and/or a Description are required.
    • Preliminary Flag: Check the 'Preliminary' box if information is limited or if more data is expected to be added later. This adds a flag to the Incident to notify other users that more information is needed.
    • Tags: Use tags to classify the Incident type (e.g., Arrest, Cop Attack, Killing) for easier filtering.