(COLUMBIA, MO) -
The Columbia Police Department is proud to announce our participation in the Police Data Initiative (PDI) led by the White House. Our commitment to this initiative supports leveraging data to increase transparency, accountability, and build trust with the citizens of Columbia.
In May 2015, the White House launched PDI as a response to several recommendations on President Obama's Task Force on 21st Century Policing. By April 2016, 53 jurisdictions covering more than 41 million people committed to PDI, with over 90 data sets released.
Chief Ken Burton reached out to White House personnel in April to discuss the Columbia Police Department joining the initiative. Today, CPD is one of 129 jurisdictions nationwide to join PDI, and the second department in Missouri behind the City of St. Louis Police Department. PDI is now reaching more than 44 million individuals throughout the country.
"We're very excited to join this initiative. Our focus as a department has and will continue to be serving our community fairly and effectively. Having open data sets will only increase transparency and foster healthy, trusting relationships with our citizens," says Chief Burton.
CPD plans to begin releasing open data sets including racial profiling data and officer-involved shootings, among others in the coming months. These data sets will provide citizens the opportunity to download, sort, search, filter, or analyze the data for their own needs. All data sets will be available on CPD's website, as well as the national Public Safety Open Data Portal at www.publicsafetydataportal.org.
PDI's growth is being announced today by President Obama at the White House Frontiers Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was released by the Department of Justice online at www.justice.gov/opa/blog/growing-number-communities-are-using-data-improve-policing-and-criminal-justice. The Frontiers Conference is focusing on building U.S. capacity in science, technology, innovation, new technologies, and challenges and goals that will continue to shape the 21st century and beyond. The conference is streaming live at www.frontiersconference.org.
For more information about the Police Data Initiative, visit the White House's Fact Sheet at www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/10/13/fact-sheet-harnessing-possibilities-science-technology-and-innovation.
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