National Police Data Coalition

The NPDC is tackling the issue of missing, disconnected, and incompatible data in the world of police accountability. The United States has over 3000 different counties, each with subtle differences in their legal systems. Across those counties, more the 40 different organizations are currently working to collect, analyze and distribute this data. That, of course, doesn't include the various local news organizations that are a part of this effort as well.

Add to this number leagues of criminal and civil rights lawyers as well as citizens who can record footage of events via their smartphones and you begin to see how fragmented the police dataverse is. Each law office acts as another silo of data that is kept away from public scrutiny. If the information makes its way into a trial case, some light may be shed. But, in many more cases that data is simply lost. This endemic lack of connectivity leads to difficulty identifying and dealing with bad actors in the criminal justice system who can often move around the nation to avoid scrutiny in one jurisdiction only to go and work in another.

To bring these groups and datasets together, NPDC is taking a multi-pronged approach. First, we have gathered stakeholders and data collectors together to develop a common standard for police misconduct data. This is a framework for collecting data that will allow groups who subscribe to it to make comparisons across data sets reveal connections between incidents recorded in each of them.

Second, we're developing a platform for the sharing, authentication, and distribution of that data, the National Police Data Index. The index allows a decentralized network of data contributors to make their data accessible to each other and the wider public. For privileged information, the network allows for peer-to-peer data transfers between trusted parties that bypass any sort of centralized interference that might break the proper chains of custody. We're also creating a passport system that screens data consumers and helps the data contributors retain control over who can see what information through the index.

We have created a first version of the common police data standard and have begun the development of a prototype of the data-sharing platform. The data standard is being developed by our coalition of data partners including Raheem.AI, Fatal Encounters, and Citizens Police Data Project while the prototype is being developed with the support of Code for America and Thoughtworks.