Photo: Motor City Muckraker
The city of Detroit isn't giving the public an accurate reading of fire-related incidents, Steve Neavling of Motor City Muckraker reports:
The city of Detroit painted a wildly inaccurate and misleading picture of the fire crisis through a public database that was supposed to create transparency but instead is riddled with egregious errors and omissions.
A Motor City Muckraker analysis of fire records reveals numerous problems with Mayor Mike Duggan’s open data portal, an initiative intended to make information more available to the public.
The city grossly underreported fire-related injuries and fatalities from Jan. 1 to Sept 30. Of the 29 civilian deaths, the city reported only 14.
During the same period, more than 40 firefighters were injured, some of them seriously. But the city reported just one injured firefighter.
The Fire Department also underreported civilian injuries by more than half.
Officials have changed the reporting procedure even after Neavling notified the city, he writes.
