Public space reports

Municipality of Brunssum

If something needs to be fixed or cleaned up on the street or in a park, it can be reported to the municipality via BuitenBeter, the municipality of Brunssum's public space reporting system

Last change on 17th of February 2025, at 13:49 (CET) | Publication Standard 1.0

• Publication category: Other algorithms
• Impact assessment: Field not filled in.
• Status: In use

General information

Theme

Public Order and Safety

Begin date

2024-05

Contact information

[e-mail]

Link to publication website

https://www.brunssum.nl/inwoner/wonen/Meldingen/melding_doen

Responsible use

Goal and impact

If something needs to be fixed or cleaned up on the street or in a park, it can be reported to the municipality via the website or the Buitenbeter App. A dangerous traffic situation, housing nuisance or nuisance from people and catering establishments can also be reported. Previously, people had to choose for themselves which category their report fitted best (e.g. 'nuisance' or 'street furniture'), so that the report went to the right department in the municipality.

But the municipality is a complex organisation and the list of categories is long. As a result, people did not always choose the right category. This sometimes caused delays in processing notifications. Therefore, we now use an algorithm that recognises words, e.g. 'rubbish' and 'pavement'. On this basis, it determines which category the report best fits and which department should handle it. So the caller no longer needs to choose a category, and the call is handled faster because it goes to the right department.

Considerations

Field not filled in.

Human intervention

If a report cannot be linked to the available keywords and therefore cannot be placed to a category or subcategory, these are forwarded to the Public Space Department and the Safety, Supervision and Enforcement Department.A human assessment then takes place and the report is still categorised. Reports that are wrongly forwarded to an incorrect category are also manually placed in the correct category by the responsible department.

Risk management

There are few risks in this algorithm. It places a notification in the right category and gets it to the attention of the right department faster. If the algorithm cannot place a notification in a category, it ends up in the 'Other' category. Staff from the Public Spaces Department and the Safety Supervision and Handling Department review those reports and manually put them in the right category. So if the algorithm is not working properly, it takes a little longer for the report to reach the right department. The reporter can add personal data if he or she wants to be kept informed. This data is stored securely and not used by the algorithm.

Operations

Data

Description category identification in BuitenBeter

1. Not high risk according to EU AI regulation

Category identification is a supporting functionality that helps reporters categorise reports correctly. It does not involve a decision-making process with legal or far-reaching consequences for citizens, as, for example, AI use in fraud detection or credit assessment. With this, the system does not fall under the 'high risk' category as defined in the EU AI regulation.

2. No automated decision-making

Category identification in BuitenBeter only provides a suggestion for a category and does not replace human assessment. The notifier can modify the suggestion and the municipality retains full control over the final processing of the report. No automated decision-making takes place without human intervention.

3. Transparency and explainability

The operation of category identification is transparent and easy to explain: the model bases its suggestions on characteristics from previous reports and available categories. It does not use complex, non-explainable algorithms or self-learning models that may be opaque to users.

4. No processing of special personal data

Category identification uses only text from the notification and public categories to make a suggestion. No sensitive or special personal data is processed.

5. Similar to regular search and filter functions

The functionality is similar to smart search engines or auto-completion systems used in many government and commercial applications. Such systems generally have no significant social or legal impact.

We cannot disclose this dataset in this registry. Because the data comes from a free text field, it may contain personal data, although it is not explicitly requested.

Someone making a report can leave his or her phone number and/or e-mail address if he or she wishes. We then keep the reporter informed of the progress and we have the option to call him or her back. This information is not kept longer than necessary for this purpose and is therefore not used by the algorithm.

For other information on processing personal data, see:

https://www.brunssum.nl/bestuur_en_organisatie/over_deze_website/privacyverklaring

External provider

Progresity