Here's something you don't hear everyday: Government officials helping reporters dig through their computer records.

If you read Sunday's article about overcrowding at the Salt Lake County jail, you might have noticed the line about how the sheriff's office gave The Tribune data. The newspaper originally asked for a large swath of data but Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder did not think that was possible.

The database, which keeps records on inmates booked and released from the jail and why, is an antiquated system built for record-keeping, but not for analysis of the data. It allows only a few basic queries, none especially helpful to the overcrowding debate.



But, after working at length with the sheriff's office to understand the convoluted system, Tribune Computer-assisted Reporting Editor Tony Semerad requested and received a massive data dump from the jail. Semerad began processing it in chunks using several desktop database programs at the newspaper and eventually converted the whole pool of information into something useful.

The jail database is the kind of information reporters often must fight and gouge to obtain. Yes, Winder had an agenda in giving us the data. He's arguing to open another jail facility. (His predecessor, former Sheriff Aaron Kennard had the same agenda, but never offered the database.) But Winder is making that argument through openness, and it's allowing us reporters to better report on all sides of a debate and keep everyone better informed.

— NC