City of Alexandria, Virginia
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: FEBRUARY 7, 2018
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
FROM: MARK B. JINKS, CITY MANAGER /s/
DOCKET TITLE:
TITLE
Consideration of the Proposed Alexandria Police Department Data Refinement and Transparency Plan.
BODY
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ISSUE: Improving data collection and transparency.
RECOMMENDATION: That City Council endorse the Proposed Alexandria Police Department Data Refinement and Transparency Plan (attached).
BACKGROUND: During the last year, several community groups and individuals in the City expressed an interest in having City Council adopt requirements via an ordinance mandating increased data reporting, as well as changed stop procedures by the Alexandria Police Department (APD). After taking these interests into consideration, during the Spring of 2017 the APD in conjunction with George Mason University completed and released to Council and to the public a detailed report of traffic stop data demographics through 2015. This was a ground-breaking report as such data had not ever been compiled so extensively and reported to our community by APD. It should be noted that, there are few police departments in the nation or the D.C. region who have compiled and released such demographic based traffic stop data.
In my October 20, 2017 memorandum to City Council, I presented the proposal to move forward with an increase in police data transparency. Subsequently, the Chief has met with many community groups and gathered input into an overall Draft 21st Century Policing Plan that also was posted for public comment and will be presented to City Council (see next docket item). These and other voluntary initiatives by APD, show the desire to build community relationships, be as transparent as possible, and mitigates the need to adopt an ordinance.
DISCUSSION: As part of its effort to examine and implement the recommendations of the 21st Century Policing initiative, the Alexandria Police Department reviewed its data collection and public release policies involving crime data, officer activity, and traffic crashes. As a result of this review, the Department has produced the draft Data Refinement and Transparency Plan (“Plan”).
The following high-level chart displays the major data categories with APD’s proposed data collection, analyses and planned data releases to the public.
ALEXANDRIA POLICE DEPARTMENT
CURRENT AND PROPOSED DATA REPORTING
Category APD Proposal APD Comments
Traffic Stop Data P 2017 initiative continued
Stop and Frisk Data N/A APD does not have a
“stop and frisk” program
Use of Force Data P Continued reporting to Human
Rights Commission
Civilian Complaints P Continued reporting to Human
Rights Commission
Crime Data Collection P Expanded
Public Reporting P Expanded
Fair and Impartial P Department-wide initiative
Policing Training
Data-Driven Traffic Safety P Vision Zero initiative
Enforcement
Through the use of a new records management system, the Police Department is able to mine multiple data collection files/servers and enhance its data utilization. This enhanced utilization will allow the Police Department to improve data collection efforts and develop a better understanding of officer activity and the nature of crime and traffic issues throughout the City. The development and use of this Plan further elevates the APD response to community stakeholders who have asked for an enhanced communication with the Department. At the end of the day when APD’s proposed data collection and release plans are fully in place, Alexandria will have one of the most data transparent police departments in the Washington, D.C. region.
FISCAL IMPACT: None - Program to use existing systems.
ATTACHMENT: Alexandria Police Department Data Refinement and Transparency Plan
STAFF:
Debra Collins, Deputy City Manager
Michael L. Brown, Chief of Police