This artifact is the final deliverable from a semester-long team project for INST327: Database Design and Modeling. Working in a team of five, we designed and implemented a relational database focused on crime data from Montgomery County, Maryland, specifically from the years 2020–2021. The motivation for this timeframe was to examine the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on crime trends. Drawing from the county's public data portal, our team cleaned and normalized the dataset, restructured vague or law-enforcement-specific fields to ensure public clarity, and then designed and implemented a logical and physical database using MySQL Workbench. Key tables included incidents, crimes, locations, offenses, police districts, and agencies. We further created views and queries that explored patterns in crime type, location, and frequency, providing actionable insights for potential users like researchers or policymakers.

This artifact showcases my ability to apply relational database principles to real-world data. Through this project, I demonstrated proficiency in entity-relationship modeling, normalization, schema creation, data cleaning, and SQL querying. I also developed a deeper appreciation for ethical data handling—ensuring privacy, reducing bias, and considering fair use throughout the project. The collaborative nature of the project helped me strengthen communication and project management skills, especially when iterating on feedback from peers and instructional staff. Ultimately, this database reflects my technical fluency in database development and my commitment to designing systems that are both informative and responsible. It is a strong representation of how I approach data with analytical rigor, collaborative spirit, and ethical mindfulness.