Medical Examiner Death Investigation Public Portal

About the Program

Category: Civic Education and Public Information (Best in Category)

Year: 2018

In 2017, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office and Bureau of Technology teamed up to provide the public with crucial information about deaths -- including those caused by gun violence and the opioid epidemic. They created first-of-their-kind interactive dashboards, maps and an open dataset providing the public with a geographic visualization of every Medical Examiner case since 2014. The maps and dashboard are populated by an online database, updated nightly and are open to the public on the County's website. Information provided includes the cause and manner of death, demographic information about the deceased and the location of the incident. This program was created to provide transparency and real-time data to researchers, law enforcement, journalists and the public as our County grapples with gun violence and the opioid epidemic. The maps and data set were also made public to help reduce the number of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests received by the Medical Examiner's Office. The Office last year received nearly 400 FOIA requests significantly more than other departments. By March 1, 2017, the office had received 51 statistical requests. Since the tool came online, the number of FOIA requests received has been reduced significantly with just 14 statistical requests submitted in 2018 by March 1.