Equity and Inclusion: Using Data and Technology to Strengthen Community Trust and Relations

In 2015, California (CA) passed Assembly Bill (AB) 953, the Racial and Identity Profiling Act (RIPA) that required each law enforcement agency that employs peace officers to annually report data on all stops to the Attorney General, with the goal of preventing racial profiling and disparity. The Chula Vista Police Department (CVPD) will be one of the agencies required to begin compiling and reporting this information in January 2022. While CA was not the first state to pass this type of legislation, AB 953 is one of the most comprehensive pieces of legislation to date, and at this time, at least 21 states have some legal mandate requiring the collection of these data and it appears that this number will only continue to grow over time.

With rising violent crime rates and an increased call for greater police transparency, the CVPD is eager to partner with researchers at SANDAG to effectively and efficiently track required RIPA data, utilize the data to inform areas for improvement, and document if desired outcomes are achieved. Acknowledging this, the overarching goal of this project is to increase the CVPD's accountability and strengthen the community's trust in the CVPD through the use of data and technology and the objectives include: (1) Utilizing new data sources and technology as part of a SARA (Scan, Analyze, Response, Assess) model to understand who the CVPD stops and interacts with; (2) Identifying possible disparities and regularly share this information with the community; (3) Addressing risk factors that could contribute to disparity through targeted interventions; and (4) Documenting the effectiveness of interventions and create a practitioner toolkit for other jurisdictions.

The proposed project is consistent with the objectives of this solicitation, including the focus on building trust between law enforcement and the community, supporting police agencies in the use of data and technology, improving police accountability, engaging with the community, and leveraging other sources of data. Deliverables will include regular analyses presented in dashboards and infographics, data sets that include RIPA data collected for the State, as well as other data survey as community and officer surveys that will be conducted, a final report, presentations, and a toolkit that has utility for departments nationwide. CVPD is committed to this project and the researchers, SANDAG, have a long history of conducting action research, partnering with law enforcement, conducting process and impact evaluations, and translating data into actionable information.