ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Rochester Police Department is now part of a new public database designed to help increase transparency and accountability. The nonprofit, Measures for Justice, says the free community dashboard tracks all kinds of policing metrics. The Rochester Police Department is one of only two police departments in the country to be part of this national network using an online platform called Commons.
RPD shares data with Measures for Justice that then sorts and lists the data to help track police performance. The data is meant to help the public and the police department look at what’s working and what needs improvement. No data, no change is why Measures for Justice says it is taking uncharted criminal justice stats and turning them into measurable data that you can access, all in one place.
Attorney and author Amy Bach founded Measures for Justice. She’s made it her mission to create better checks and balances to improve community trust. After years in courtrooms, she says she realized most people have no idea what is happening there.
“It’s imperative on states and localities to get the data houses in order. Get people around the table who normally wouldn't be in conversations and have the hard conversations, and that is where the trust happens, and let's move forward. That's what this is about," Bach said.
She created the database as a community-driven data tool. The information includes things like crime trends, calls for service, use of force incidents and officer overtime.
"What the data allows us to do is rely not on narrative and not on story but on the facts,” said Bach.
The Rochester Police Department agrees.
"OK, the community really wants to see x, y and z; now it is also a chance for us to look at x, y and z as well and see okay maybe do we need a policy change or what we are doing well or especially how we are doing matched up with what our community is looking for," said Capt. Greg Bello of the RPD. "It is looking at uses of force, overtime, motor vehicle collisions involving our fleet and things along those lines that our community has asked for. It is community-driven categories."
Bach says the sharing of information helps bridge the gap between data and change.
"This is a new day for transparency in Rochester and we hope to spread it across the state,” said Bach.
Measures for Justice also works with the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office with its own community database. Bach says that Rochester is an example of a city that is working on engaging the public with all this data transparency.