A two-step process to increase successful geocoding in publicly available police stop data

Many police departments are meeting calls for transparency by releasing publicly accessible data. High-quality address locations are critical for successful and accurate geocoding, though the content and quality of that data can drastically vary across datasets. In this study, we showcase a two-step geocoding process that helps convert low-quality address locations into geo-locatable addresses using traditional geocoding and Jaro-Winkler edit distance methods with police stop data from the San Diego Police Department. For reference, only 83% of stops were geocoded when using traditional geocoding methods. By employing the Jaro-Winkler edit distance to clean the stop address strings, we were able to geocode 99% of stops. We further discuss data creation practices and solutions for data quality-related issues for police departments and researchers when using publicly available policing data.