Limited Data and Transparency to hold responsible police officers to account as well as inform comprehensive police reform initiatives.
Have you ever asked yourself what would have happened if Darnella Frazier didn’t document and share the George Floyd footage? There would have been a bland statement that George Floyd died resisting arrest, and none us would have heard of him. Instead, the horror of that footage ignited protests around the world, paved the way for landmark legislations towards addressing police violence.
All in all, there are thousands of police violence instances that go unnoticed simply because there wasn’t a “Daniella Frazier” to document, to make it worse there is no federal mandate that requires police departments to report lethal encounters. As a result, we find ourselves with insufficient data to inform policy reform initiatives.
As Peter Drucker said, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure”, lack of or limited data around police violence makes it hard for us to address this challenge.
