I've actually been pleasantly surprised at how much data /is/ available, and how much of it is available through common formats like Socrata Open Data API (for use with tools like https://github.com/xmunoz/sodapy)

The counter argument is that they do a great job with trivial stuff like registered dog's names, and less well with sensitive/important issues like policing.

What's the right way to leverage the platform developed for the first into the second?