Standard National Set of Police Measures to be Piloted in West Sacramento Police Department, Available via Public Dashboard and Co-Created with the Community
*National Coalition to Join Virtual Roundtable on Improving Data for Racial Equity in Policing on Jan. 24 *
ROCHESTER, NY (Jan 18, 2022) – Measures for Justice, a nonprofit on a mission to make accurate criminal justice data available to spur reform, announced today that the West Sacramento Police Department (WSPD) will become one of the first police departments in the nation to implement a new set of national police measures developed with input from community leaders and police experts nationwide. The standardized measures, which will track the department’s performance and practice, will be made available to the public through Measures for Justice’s Commons dashboard.
“Measures for Justice has been working for 3 years to develop a national set of police measures with input from community leaders and police experts,” said Amy Bach, CEO of Measures for Justice. “The only way our criminal justice system can improve is by monitoring its performance, isolating what works and what doesn’t, and developing interventions based on fact. For all this work, data are critical.”
Measures for Justice convened a Policing Data Council and, through a partnership with the nonprofit Center for Open Data Enterprise (CODE), is convening a diverse group of community leaders, scholars, and advocates, to hone the framework for a national set of police measures that will cover all aspects of policing, including trust in the department and perceptions of legitimacy; use of force; least harm practices; accountability; officer wellness and safety; fiscal needs and responsibility; as well as recruitment and training.
“These measures will all be based on the premise that you cannot possibly solve one problem in policing without measuring and understanding all the factors that are contributing to that problem,” continued Bach.
“We are eager to take on this work and to provide our community and ourselves much improved and actionable data,” said Rob Strange, Chief of Police, WSPD. “We are blessed by a supportive community, but we cannot take this support for granted. They will have a seat at the table to help us design a dashboard that serves our diverse community well and helps us collectively improve policing.”
He continued: “Guided by experts in data science working collaboratively with police reform advocates and policing professionals, I am confident that we will develop a platform of vital measures that illustrate the realities of public safety and the legitimacy of our police efforts. We are excited to share this important data that truly belongs to the people.”
WSPD will be one of the first police departments in the country to adopt the Commons Model, in which law enforcement and the community they serve are equal players in the creation of a dashboard designed to meet everyone’s concerns. The Commons data dashboard is unique in that it:
- is co-created with members of the community;
- includes a policy goal that is mutually agreed upon with the community;
- enables any user to easily filter data by, at a minimum, race, age, sex, etc.;
- and has data that are updated regularly.
On January 24, 2022, CODE will host a public webinar with an exciting lineup of speakers discussing how data can be used to improve policing and community safety, including:
- Amy Bach, Executive Director, Measures for Justice
- Sam Sinyangwe, Founder and CEO, Police Scorecard
- Channing Nesbitt, Social Impact Program Specialist, Tableau Foundation
- Dr. Nancy La Vigne, Senior Fellow, Council on Criminal Justice
- Darrell Malone, Founder, National Police Data Coalition
- Julie Ciccolini, Director of Law Enforcement Accountability, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
- Damon Woods, Director, Racial Equity Alliance, XPrize
- Paul Wormeli, Innovation Strategist, Wormeli Consulting, LLC
On January 25, 2022, MFJ and CODE will co-host a private roundtable of researchers, national reform leaders, and community advocates concluding a three-year project to finalize a workable draft of the national set of police measures. The next step is to test, refine, and pilot the measures in West Sacramento. The roundtable welcomess leaders from key organizations in the space, including Police Scorecard, National Police Data Coalition, Tableau Foundation, US. Department of Justice, The White House, Center for Policing Equity, Campaign Zero, Civic Hacker, Code for America, Project on Government Oversight, Arnold Ventures, Council on Criminal Justice, Data for Black Lives, and DataKind.
About CODE
The Center for Open Data Enterprise (CODE), a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C works to maximize the value of open and shared data for the public good, by working with government agencies, businesses, nonprofits, and researchers who are both data providers and data users.
About Measures for Justice
Measures for Justice is on a mission to make accurate criminal justice data available to spur reform. For the last ten years, Measures for Justice has worked to show people what criminal justice looks like nationwide; helped standardize and improve criminal justice data nationwide; and offered tools, services, and research to ensure people can use the data to best effect.
