By David Mazeika and Wesley S. McCann
Fewer Americans trust the police than at any point in recent history. In 2020, 48% of Americans told Gallup they have confidence in the police, the first time this value has fallen below 50% in the poll’s 27 year history. Confidence differs greatly by race with 57% of white respondents having confidence in the police, but only 19% among Blacks. One of the easiest ways for law enforcement to improve trust and confidence for all is to be more transparent by proactively releasing data on police behaviors and public safety that agencies already collect.
Better data transparency allows for the improvement of policing, and therefore confidence in the police. It can blunt sensational media claims, help citizens, journalists and researchers independently assess whether programs, policies, or laws are effective, and ensure officers and departments are held responsible.
Trust has declined in recent years because the public is less confident that the police use proportionate levels of force, are held accountable and treat various racial groups equally. These sentiments mirror those of the Gallup poll in terms of racial breakdown, too. This is partly why a growing share of the United States population wants to be able to sue police officers when they commit misconduct. Again, improving transparency may curtail these attitudes.
Unfortunately, New Jersey and its approximately 450 municipal police departments do not publicly release timely, easily accessible data needed for transparency. Eighty percent of the 20 largest municipalities in the state release no data on any of the six metrics commonly used to study police — traffic stops, offenses, arrests, use of force, citizen complaints, and police misconduct. This includes Trenton, the state’s capital, which recorded a record 40 homicides in 2020, a rate nearly 10 times the national average. Newark, the largest municipality in the state, only posts arrest data, contained in hundreds of separate PDFs, and five-year-old summaries on police misconduct prosecutions and dispositions. Camden, held up as a paragon of reform after the summer of 2020, only shares traffic stop data but not on their own website.
There are many examples of both small and large cities in other states sharing data that illustrate what can be accomplished in New Jersey. Burlington, Vermont (pop 42,000) shares 10 years of arrests, offenses, traffic stops, and use of force. Cambridge, Massachusetts (pop 105,000) shares data on traffic crashes (since 2010), citations (since 2010), parking tickets (since 2014) and offenses (since 2009). Rochester, New York (pop 206,000) shares data on over 100,000 offenses since 2011.
The state and municipalities should take several steps to improve transparency and confidence in policing. The state should issue mandatory reporting requirements for the aforementioned data. While having a single state-wide program for each of the outcomes is challenging, we believe the data would be immensely valuable even if it is released separately on each department’s website. Related, the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police (NJSACOP) should require agencies to share a certain amount of data to receive accreditation. Currently, accreditation seems to only require agencies to have a written directive for agency records (accreditation standard 1.8).
Second, the NJSACOP, New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety, or another appropriate authority, should convene a professional society of crime analysts. Unlike other states (eg: Massachusetts), there is no state association of crime analysts in New Jersey. Analysts are embedded researchers in departments who analyze data, identify problems and patterns, and propose and evaluate solutions. A state association of crime analysts could foster, enhance, and curate these skills, and help departments become more data-driven and facilitate the release of data to the public. This in turn allows for more evaluations of department programs and policies, which leaves us more in the dark.
Finally, agencies should measure citizen satisfaction, trust, and confidence on a routine basis. Based on the most recent survey of law enforcement agencies from the United States Bureau of Justice Statistics, only nine out of 105 police departments surveyed in the state had conducted a formal study of resident’s crime experiences, fear of crime, or satisfaction with police in the past year. An agency cannot police without consent or address citizen concerns if it is not systemically soliciting their feedback.
Reforms are needed, but without open timely data, the public and researchers like us cannot assess their impact. After the numerous failures of law enforcement painfully exposed in recent years, New Jerseyans have a right to expect this level of transparency. The state is making an effort to improve public access to law enforcement data through the launch of its Use of Force Dashboard but New Jersey has a long way to go. By and large, the police are already collecting the data discussed here. It’s time to share it with the public.
David Mazeika is an associate professor in the Criminology Department at The College of New Jersey. Wesley S. McCann is a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Criminology at The College of New Jersey.
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