The Case for a National Repository of Policing Data in the United States

Many resources exist for criminal justice data, but these data repositories focus on crime reports, court records, and victimization reports, with secondary focus on policing as a part of the criminal justice system. The lack of a dedicated resource for policing data--data collected or generated as part of policing activities--impedes transparency about how policing operates in practice. However, such a resource must address the privacy risks that arise from making this data available to researchers and others; overcome the technical challenges that arise from the absence of nationwide standards for the collection, organization, and storage of this data; and ensure meaningful public access. We enumerate details about these each of these criteria for establishing a national repository of policing data in the United States. We argue current technology can meet these needs, but that, in the absence of regulations governing dissemination of data obtained through open records laws, it is vital to facilitate ethical research about policing in the United States through design decisions guided by the Belmont Report. We conclude by noting one possible database ontology that could meet our criteria and highlight the importance of participation by the public as part of the design process.