California Launches Mandatory Data Collection For Police Use-of-Force (seattletimes.com)

An anonymous Slashdot reader quotes the AP: All 800 police departments in California must begin using a new online tool launched Thursday to report and help track every time officers use force that causes serious injuries... The tool, named URSUS for the bear on California's flag, includes fields for the race of those injured and the officers involved, how their interaction began and why force was deemed necessary.

"It's sort of like TurboTax for use-of-force incidents," said Justin Erlich, a special assistant attorney general overseeing the data collection and analysis. Departments must report the data under a new state law passed last November. Though some departments already tracked such data on their own, many did not... "As a country, we must engage in an honest, transparent, and data-driven conversation about police use of force," California Attorney General Kamala Harris said in a news release.
It's an open source tool developed by Bayes Impact, and California plans to share the code with other interested law enforcement agencies across the country. Only three other states currently require their police departments to track data about use-of-force incidents, "but their systems aren't digital, and in Colorado's case, only capture shootings."

Comments

And What Will Come of It?

[BrendaEM]

I don't think that collecting data is enough. Think of how many innocent people were killed by the police without being videoed. Our police are still allowed to be expert witnesses, in courts. I am sorry if this offends people, but there is nothing intrinsically different about police officers that makes them honest.

Re:And What Will Come of It?

[iCEBaLM]

What gets measured gets managed.

Re:And What Will Come of It?

[OzPeter]

but there is nothing intrinsically different about police officers that makes them honest.
You mean other than their training?

Just as a counterpoint to your example.

1. Officer Sherry Hall from Georgia who claimed that a black guy shot her. Who has now been charged with fabricating that story as well as various other offenses.
2. Officer Jason Stockley from St Louis kills guy then plants gun on him.
3. Officer Mark Wayne Rowe from VA Beach stealing gun bags from the evidence room
4. Pinellas County Sheriff’s deputy Wayne Wagner beats up on a woman and then accuses her of battery of him.
etc etc

So yeah, right. Training.

But what is non-sensical is (former) Officer Stephen Mader from Weirton Wha who was basically fired because he didn't shoot a suicidal man with a gun. Mader who is a former Marine had surveyed the situation, decided that the man in question was not really a threat and was trying to talk him down. Two other officers arrived, decided that the guy was dangerous and shot him dead. Mader was fired because his actions put the other officers at risk. Oh yeah, the gun was unloaded.

Re:And What Will Come of It?

[tinkerton]

There's another reason why collecting data is not enough.The police rules of engagement can move along a spectrum from military-like(enemy territory) to police-like(working for the public). I think they shifted a lot towards military-like rules: as soon as a potential risk has been acknowledged the person with the badge has the right to kill. So maybe one should ask european cops what they think of US cops killing and then their chiefs defending the actions.

Re:And What Will Come of It?

[Uberbah]

You mean other than their training? Compare what an officer is trained to see to a recent shooting in my area.

You mean an anecdote? How about we look at the numbers of people who have been released from prison after being proved innocent, who were badgered into confessing by police interrogators - 65 out of 149 last year. Like prosecutors, cops are far, far, far more interested in "winning" than in actual justice.

And cops invariably lie when caught in an unjustified shooting, to cover their own asses. If a cop tells you that nighttime is darker than daytime? Go outside after sundown to check and make sure he was telling the truth.

Re:Bigger problem

[Anonymous Coward]

I dunno, where is the outrage over home mortgage schemes that kept black people from buying new homes in the suburbs and living in inner city tenements?

Where is the outrage over failures to force the owners of those tenements from removing lead pain and plumbing?

Where is the outrage over the abandonment of inner city school systems?

If you take any population of humans, expose them to lead for their entire lives and then fail to educate them or giver them gainful employment which offers a chance for a better life...

Then you would end up with slums that are filled with whatever group is oppressed and the other groups, which managed to avoid said fate, pointing the finger at them and calling them animals

much like you have

Re:Well, that's a start.

[BarbaraHudson]

Won't make a difference. The Guardian's investigation showed that even police forces that were supposed to record all police shootings didn't, and that includes fatal shootings.

Re:Well, that's a start.

[Uberbah]

Obey the instructions of the police officer and let your lawyer / attorney / barrister handle any disputes. The solution does not even require technology. Priceless.

And when the cop shoots you for following his "lawful orders"? How about when they shoot you before saying anything, like Tamir Rice or John Crawford?

No amount of authoritarian bootlicking will save your ass from a cop bent on shooting you.

Re:Well, that's a start.

[davester666]

Yeah. Hell, the ONLY reason these things are even making the news is because there is a/v evidence that it happened. But these things didn't just start happening now that portable video cameras are everywhere. They've been happening ALL ALONG, and the police have just been lying about it.