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Story · Harris County, Texas

DWI Arrests at Night, Mapped

When and where one county’s DWI arrests cluster, one step at a time: the night, the map, the hours, the weekend, and the rule that keeps every count anonymous. Scroll, and the map follows.

Sample dataIllustrative sample data, not real arrest records

Map

The night

93% of the arrests counted fall between 6 PM and 6 AM

In this sample, 7,680 of 8,278 arrests counted fall between 6 PM and 6 AM. That window is half of the clock.

The map shows only that window. Colors follow the legend, from the fewest arrests in an area to the most.

6 PM–6 AM · Every day

Specification

Sample data
  1. 1.1

    Selection. Evening and late night, 6 PM to 6 AM, every day of the week.

  2. 1.2

    Counted. 7,680 of 8,278 arrests in published areas (92.8%).

  3. 1.3

    Areas shown. 339 of 340 published areas have 5 or more arrests in this window.

  4. 1.4

    Reading it. Counts add up published areas only. Counts under 5 are withheld, so totals are a floor, not the full count.

Open the interactive map

The map

At least half of the arrests counted sit in 76 of 340 areas

In this sample, the busiest 76 areas hold 50.3% of all arrests counted. That is 22% of the 340 areas on the map. The rest are drawn faint.

This is a count, not a rate, so areas with more drivers or more patrols can show more arrests.

Busiest 76 areas · All hours

Specification

Sample data
  1. 2.1

    Areas published. 340 hexagons, each about 3 km across.

  2. 2.2

    Busiest areas. 76 areas, ranked by all-hours arrests until half of the total is reached.

  3. 2.3

    Their share. 4,164 of 8,278 arrests (50.3%).

  4. 2.4

    Caveat. Arrest locations follow where people drive and where police patrol as well as where impaired driving happens.

Open the interactive map

The hours

Midnight to 6 AM holds 61% of the arrests counted

In this sample, 5,036 arrests fall between midnight and 6 AM, a quarter of the day's hours.

From 6 AM to noon there are 164. Most areas fall under 5 arrests in the morning, so some of their arrests are left out of the counts and the real gap may be smaller than these counts suggest.

Midnight–6 AM · Every day

Specification

Sample data
  1. 3.1

    Selection. Late night, midnight to 6 AM, every day of the week.

  2. 3.2

    Counted. 5,036 of 8,278 arrests (60.8%).

  3. 3.3

    For comparison. Morning, 6 AM to noon: 164. Afternoon, noon to 6 PM: 434. Evening, 6 PM to midnight: 2,644.

  4. 3.4

    Areas shown. 321 of 340 published areas have 5 or more arrests in this window.

For comparison: Chicago's real arrests, hour by hour

The weekend

Friday to Sunday carries 75% of the arrests counted

In this sample, the three days from Friday to Sunday hold 6,217 of 8,278 arrests counted.

Per day, that is about 2,072 on Friday to Sunday against 515 on Monday to Thursday. Most areas fall under 5 arrests on Monday to Thursday, so some of their arrests are left out of the counts and the real gap may be smaller than these counts suggest.

All hours · Fri–Sun

Specification

Sample data
  1. 4.1

    Selection. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, all hours.

  2. 4.2

    Counted. 6,217 of 8,278 arrests (75.1%).

  3. 4.3

    Per day. About 2,072 a day on Friday to Sunday, against 515 a day on Monday to Thursday.

  4. 4.4

    Day groups. The data groups days as Monday to Thursday and Friday to Sunday, so a single day cannot be separated out.

For comparison: Chicago's weekdays and weekends by the hour

The rule

No area is shown under 5 arrests

A count of 1 to 4 could point to a person or a street, so it is never published. When the hours you pick leave an area under 5, it drops off the map.

The slice with the most withheld areas is 6 AM–noon, Mon–Thu: 335 of 340 areas fall under 5 there and show as faint outlines. They had fewer than 5 arrests or none; the data does not say which.

6 AM–noon · Mon–Thu · 335 withheld

Specification

Sample data
  1. 5.1

    Rule. A count is published for an area and a time slot only when it is 5 or more.

  2. 5.2

    In this slice. 335 of 340 areas withheld (6 AM–noon, Mon–Thu).

  3. 5.3

    Effect on totals. Withheld counts are left out, so every total on this page is a floor, not the full count.

  4. 5.4

    Never published. Addresses, time stamps and individual records. Areas are hexagons about 3 km across.

What's real and what isn't on this site

Method

These numbers are a placeholder

Everything on this page is built from an illustrative sample that we wrote to show how the map and the story work. It is not a set of arrest records, and no area on it says anything about a real place.

The text is computed from the data, so when a real file replaces the sample, every sentence and figure here is rewritten from it.

Sample data · not arrest records

Specification

Sample data
  1. 6.1

    Status. Sample data. Written by us; it carries no source and should not be cited as a finding.

  2. 6.2

    Grid. Hexagons about 3 km across; four times of day; Monday to Thursday and Friday to Sunday.

  3. 6.3

    Rule. Counts under 5 are withheld, so totals are a floor, not the full count.

  4. 6.4

    Coverage. Synthetic areas from a seeded model of a city core and a few satellites. Not arrest locations.

  5. 6.5

    Caveat. No place is named, and no area is claimed to be a real hotspot.

  6. 6.6

    Caveat. Real data will publish only areas with at least 5 arrests in a period, so a count cannot point to a person or a street.

Explore the interactive map
The figures behind the map, as a table
DWI arrests in Harris County by time of day, weekdays and weekends, summed over all published areas
Time of dayWeekdays (Mon–Thu)Weekends (Fri–Sun)Total
6 AM–noon28136164
Noon–6 PM69365434
6 PM–midnight5512,0932,644
Midnight–6 AM1,4133,6235,036
All hours2,0616,2178,278
Areas published340

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