Building Community Trust Using Police Data and Dashboards

Police officers’ use of force can become a source of friction between law enforcement and communities. While police executives and others consider lawful use of force an essential tool to keep the community and officers safe, they are also wondering whether force policies, training and tactics should be changed. In this webinar, attorney Bob Scales and San Jose Police Chief Eddie Garcia will discuss the challenges of collecting use of force data and successes from sharing data with the community. Scales, CEO of Police Strategies LLC, will discuss lessons from his work overseeing reforms in the Seattle Police Department after the U.S. Department of Justice identified a pattern or practice of using unnecessary and excessive force. Scales also will discuss how data can be used to identify high-risk behavior and to evaluate the effectiveness of policies and training. Chief Garcia will discuss his efforts to build community trust by sharing the department’s use of force data with the public and the impact data analysis has had on discussions surrounding police bias and accountability. Both will address how data can be used to engage and the community as well as how city leaders have used data for risk management and budget allocations.