Minneapolis launches new emergency incidents dashboard

The City of Minneapolis announces a new 911 Emergency Incidents Dashboard. The dashboard's rollout coincides with the testing of encryption on the City's main emergency-response communications channels to comply with Minnesota state data privacy regulations, providing additional safety and privacy for both first responders and residents. Testing will continue until May 1, when the channels will be encrypted fulltime.

The new dashboard will be updated every 30 minutes and will include the following features:

• 911 calls over the last 12 hours.

• Mapped location of incidents.

• Incidents categorized into police, fire, and BCR calls.

• Incidents categorized by date, agency, neighborhood, or problem code.

911 incidents older than 12 hours will be included in a separate dashboard of archived calls for service.

State data privacy laws and regulations and the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Criminal Justice Information Services Security policy require the protection of certain information related to law enforcement investigations and victims of crimes. Because tactics, locations, and private identity information are regularly broadcast over the air during incidents, real time access to the 911/Minneapolis Emergency Communications Center (MECC) main channels will be limited, ensuring only authorized entities are able to access this data.

The dramatic rise in the use of social media and scanner apps to track first responders jeopardizes emergency response operations and can lead to the spread of incomplete, inaccurate, or unsubstantiated information. This can cause safety concerns for first responders and the public. Directives from the state and federal governments have long required agencies to protect personally identifiable information such as driver's license numbers and criminal backgrounds. Encrypting communication helps ensure City compliance while providing additional safety for emergency responders and community members.

Minneapolis joins several agencies across the state already in compliance, including Hennepin County Law Mains, Edina, Saint Louis Park, MSP Airport Police, and the counties of Dakota, Scott, and Carver, as well as the City of Rochester.

The new dashboard has launched, and periodic testing of encrypted radio service will begin the evening of April 14. Testing will continue untilApril 30, 2025. All communications will be encrypted beginning May 1, 2025.

For this two-week test, MECC will rotate each day on a 4- or 6-hour time period. The schedule is as follows:

Date	Time	Date	Time
April 14	2000-0000	April 23	0230-0630
April 15	1030-1630	April 24	1030-1630
April 16	1630-2030	April 25	2030-0230
April 17	2200-0400	April 26	2030-0230
April 18	1030-1630	April 27	0630-1030
April 19	1630-2030	April 28	1630-2030
April 20	2000-0000	April 29	2030-0230
April 21	0630-1030	April 30	1030-1630
April 22	1630-2030	May 1	Full Encryption

The City works hard to ensure accuracy and transparency and is committed to keeping the public informed about law enforcement activity in a timely manner. The Minneapolis Police Department's Public Information Office will continue to verify news tips and safety information, and notification of an incident of note will be made through the appropriate social media channels and phone calls as is currently the standard.

The City will continuously evaluate this new process and make changes as necessary.