Cohort 2023

Forward Through Ferguson

Transforming 911: The Dysfunction and Potential of St. Louis’s 911 System

St. Louis City and County, MO

In 2018, Americans called 911 more than 35 million times, with white people 1.5 times more likely to do so than Black or Hispanic people. In St. Louis, Forward Through Ferguson (FTF) seeks to understand why people call (or don’t call) 911 and how that reasoning aligns with the services the police provides. The organization’s initiative, #Transforming911, is a community accountability and advocacy tool that uses data, research, and storytelling to identify patterns in St. Louis’s 911 system, uncover the forces shaping that system, and disrupt and counter its harms.

With Catalyst Grant funding, FTF and its partner, AH Datalytics, will continue to expand awareness about St. Louis’s 911 system from the perspectives of practitioners and residents and share findings about its inequities, leveraging this entry point to imagine a new system of public safety. To accomplish this, FTF and AH Datalytics will analyze 911 call-for-service data from 2015 to 2020 from the City of St. Louis Department of Public Safety, excluding calls for fire and emergency medical services. The team will calculate the number of civilian-initiated 911 calls and the time spent on them by year, call reason, and geography. In addition, FTF will solicit voices from the community to further expand the story of civilian-initiated calls in St. Louis. This holistic view of police engagement will inform strategies to begin integrating 911 with civilian-first responder programs.