Community Advisory Board and West Sacramento Police Department Partner to Set, Track Data with New Platform

Pilot program is one of two in the U.S. powered by Measures for Justice

WEST SACRAMENTO, CA (October 21, 2022) – Measures for Justice (MFJ), a nonprofit that develops tools to help communities reshape the criminal justice system, today kicked off a data transparency initiative with the West Sacramento Police Department (WSPD) and a Community Advisory Board (CAB). The partnership was created to establish shared policy goals and track police data using MFJ’s public platform, Commons, a tool that makes it easier for local communities to get, track, and understand criminal justice data.

WSPD will become one of the first police departments in the country to deploy Commons and implement a new set of National Police Measures developed with input from community leaders and police experts nationwide.

Commons is unique because it:

• is co-created with members of the community via a Community Advisory Board;
• includes a policy goal that is mutually agreed upon with the community;
• enables any user to easily filter data in a variety of ways including, but not limited torace, age, sex, etc.; and
• includes data that is updated regularly.

The West Sacramento Community Advisory Board includes ten local members with a diverse set of backgrounds, experiences, and voices who are committed to partnering with WSPD to discuss what data needs to be shared with the public and what policy goals need to be set.

“I am honored to be part of this CAB because it’s the ultimate form of diversity, equity and inclusion work,” said Jeneba Lahai, Executive Director of the Yolo County Children’s Alliance. “It is solution oriented, intentional, and focused on helping our community.” The West Sacramento CAB was created in 2022 and includes members like Marisela Romero and Andrea Van Cleave, who represent the Washington Unified School District and the West Sacramento Chamber of Commerce, respectively.

As a collective, the CAB and WSPD will be undertaking groundbreaking work to demonstrate how data transparency and collaboration can make evidence-based decision-making the norm. “Good data is a key starting point to productive discussions that can overcome polarization, create clarity of community needs, and improve police services – especially when creating this platform is undertaken with the very community we serve,” said Rob Strange, WSPD Chief of Police.

About Measures for Justice

Measures for Justice is on a mission to develop tools that help communities reshape the criminal justice system. For over a decade, 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.