In the realm of public safety, Snohomish County implemented a number of initiatives meant to increase public transparency for the sheriff’s department. The County Council awarded $3.8 million for body-worn cameras for deputies, and county IT was actively involved in the procurement process for securing the cameras and their supporting systems. Also with county IT’s support, the sheriff’s department built and launched a public-facing Crime Data Dashboard that displays statistics and data related to their work.

In the interest of serving residents by closing the digital divide, the county’s Broadband Action Team is on the leading edge of efforts to expand broadband access, including actions like encouraging all county residents to challenge inaccuracies in the Federal Communications Commission’s recently released national broadband coverage maps. Additionally, Snohomish County is implementing a $16 million grant to provide high-speed broadband to 4,150 households in an unserved community. And with all that new broadband access, more residents will be able to access things like the new open data GIS portal, permitting records portal and the updated data sets in the Snohomish County Hazard Explorer.