User Privacy Options
Revised November 2024 - Please note this site is still in development and the terms are still being worked upon
Users should control who has access to their private information. That’s why we’ve created three unique options for how we collect and share their data.
Whichever option they choose, all information complainants provide will be privately shared with the relevant investigative agencies responsible for investigating rapports against police.
1. Full Transparency
The complainant will publish all the names of civilians and police officers on OpenRapport
Users who select Full Transparency will have their uncensored story published on OpenRapport. This includes officers’ and civilians’ names and responses to open-ended questions. But other personal information (e.g. complainant contact info, home address, etc.) will not be published.
2. No Names Public
The complainant will not publish any names on this website. This includes police officers’ names and badge numbers too.
Users who select No Names Public will provide everything investigators need — but only their anonymized data will be published on the OpenRapport. For reciprocity purposes, neither civilian nor police officer names will be published. Only the multiple-choice responses will be published. (This does not include responses to open-ended questions, which could reveal identities.)
3. Anonymous
The complainant needs to be anonymous, even though it might limit investigation.
For complainants who select Anonymous, no personal information about them is requested or collected. Neither OpenRapport staff nor investigators will be able to contact the complainant. While this makes it harder for investigative agencies to investigate, it’s an important option for complainants fearful of retaliation.
Users multiple-choice responses will be published. (This does not include responses to open-ended questions, which could reveal identities.) Any details that could be used for personal identification may be deleted from OpenRapport’s database.
Documentation for Solicitors
This is not a privacy setting, but rapports intended for solicitors eyes only are stored and published with anonymized data only.
Some people use OpenRapport to prepare documentation for an solicitor. In these cases, no information will be shared with investigative agencies. Users can print out their complete rapport and download it as a PDF or raw data file. After completing the entire process, OpenRapport’s copy of their rapport is stripped of all data that might be personally identifiable. Only multiple-choice question data will be saved and publicly associated with the police department records.
When such rapports are anonymized, all open-ended responses are permanently deleted from OpenRapport’s servers. But with the advice of their solicitor— users can later upload their raw rapport data to publish their complete story.
Glossary of Terms
Multiple-Choice Questions: Users select answers from options on a predetermined list.
Open-Ended Questions: Users can type a narrative response in order to share their knowledge and/or feelings.
Anonymized Complaint Data: Because open-ended questions can potentially include personally-identifying information, anonymized data only includes responses to multiple-choice questions. And in some rare cases, multiple-choice question responses are also hidden if they potentially reveal too much about a person’s identity.