Tracking gun violence data in Maryland has long relied on federal databases, often leaving researchers, advocates and lawmakers frustrated by having to work with years-old data.

The rollout of a new data dashboard announced Thursday will track up-to-date firearm violence in Maryland and is expected to be updated monthly. The tool is part of a larger state approach to apply public health know-how to help reduce firearm violence.

“Before we can really develop policies that are going to target areas of our state that are experiencing gun violence, we need to make sure we know what gun violence looks like,” Jen Pauliukonis, the executive director at the Center for Firearm Violence Prevention and Intervention, said during a telephone briefing.

Officials say the dashboard will unlock access to the most comprehensive and timely state firearm data portal in the country. It tracks fatalities and injuries, differentiates between homicides and suicides, and allows researchers and policy makers to filter the data to the ZIP code level.

The Baltimore Banner thanks its sponsors. Become one.

The portal can also reveal demographic trends, problematic time periods for violence and and some of the root causes that lead to gun-related deaths. Some of its most recent findings center on firearm-related suicides, which have increased over the past two years across the state.

The new data portal “is going to help guide where we invest, how we improve firearm policies and implementation, and how we can identify areas for further research based on this information,” Pauliukonis said.

The arrival of timely firearm data in Maryland arrives as the federal government has recently reduced funding for researching gun violence.

A more robust data tool is also one part of a growing public health collaboration between state agencies and local health departments to bolster gun violence prevention efforts.

“These statistics, they’re not just numbers. They are real people,” Dr. Meena Seshamani, secretary of Maryland’s Department of Health, said during Thursday’s presentation. “They are real victims of this public health crisis.”