4 ms·

Invisible Institute Relaunches the Citizens Police Data Project

74 points by danso 8y ago

danso 8y ago
Don't know if the article link contains a prominent link to the data repo, so here it is: https://invisible.institute/police-data/ https://invisible.institute/police-data/
NhanH 8y ago
Both the code and data for the project is available at https://github.com/invinst https://github.com/invinst
motohagiography 8y ago
In tech we take for granted that we can get data and create metrics for everything we might need. Once you get out of companies that have been around for fewer than 10 years and into organizations that are operated purely on personal relationships, with sometimes an exogenous legal or regulatory framework, it's what you might call chaos. I would ask if data availability is going to be a big generational rift. This kind of data-driven accountability (or surveillance, depending on your opinion) is anathema to the culture of many public agencies. Beyond the social consequences of this specific work in policing, the effect of ubiquitous data on institutions can cause huge, rapid change. Not all of it planned. In the case of the Invisible Project in this story, the data is damning to the legitimacy of the institution. It's no longer about anecdotes and individual cases. There is a clear problem and solution, with direct accountability for implementing it, and a clock ticking on how much lost legitimacy they will accept before doing so. The rift that data creates is, will younger generations with presumed access to data accept the institutional response, "because we say so," when the data suggests otherwise? From a data perspective, I don't think we can underestimate the effect of a generation raised to understand that "random," just means a gap in information about rules and inputs, and is not necessarily a source of justice or fairness.
- microcolonel 8y ago
  > This kind of data-driven accountability (or surveillance, depending on your opinion) is anathema to the culture of many public agencies. There are already cases where the public ignores legitimate data and records because it contradicts their narrative. For example, instances where body cameras have unequivocally exonerated police officers. Ultimately, on some issues which have become unnecessarily political, I believe that the public will decide to ignore the data to the extent that they make the same decisions they would if ignorance were the only option.
- bpchaps 8y ago
  This is precisely why FOIA and its complements are so important. :)

74 points by danso 8y ago

Don't know if the article link contains a prominent link to the data repo, so here it is: https://invisible.institute/police-data/ https://invisible.institute/police-data/

NhanH 8y ago

Both the code and data for the project is available at https://github.com/invinst https://github.com/invinst

motohagiography 8y ago

In tech we take for granted that we can get data and create metrics for everything we might need. Once you get out of companies that have been around for fewer than 10 years and into organizations that are operated purely on personal relationships, with sometimes an exogenous legal or regulatory framework, it's what you might call chaos. I would ask if data availability is going to be a big generational rift. This kind of data-driven accountability (or surveillance, depending on your opinion) is anathema to the culture of many public agencies. Beyond the social consequences of this specific work in policing, the effect of ubiquitous data on institutions can cause huge, rapid change. Not all of it planned. In the case of the Invisible Project in this story, the data is damning to the legitimacy of the institution. It's no longer about anecdotes and individual cases. There is a clear problem and solution, with direct accountability for implementing it, and a clock ticking on how much lost legitimacy they will accept before doing so. The rift that data creates is, will younger generations with presumed access to data accept the institutional response, "because we say so," when the data suggests otherwise? From a data perspective, I don't think we can underestimate the effect of a generation raised to understand that "random," just means a gap in information about rules and inputs, and is not necessarily a source of justice or fairness.

microcolonel 8y ago
> This kind of data-driven accountability (or surveillance, depending on your opinion) is anathema to the culture of many public agencies. There are already cases where the public ignores legitimate data and records because it contradicts their narrative. For example, instances where body cameras have unequivocally exonerated police officers. Ultimately, on some issues which have become unnecessarily political, I believe that the public will decide to ignore the data to the extent that they make the same decisions they would if ignorance were the only option.
bpchaps 8y ago
This is precisely why FOIA and its complements are so important. :)