This publication presents the findings of a workshop held by RAND and the Police Executive Research Forum, on behalf of the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), to identify high-priority areas where data and metrics in policing need improvement.
RAND and the Police Executive Research Forum, on behalf of the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), convened a workshop of subject-matter experts, representing police practitioners, researchers, private vendors, and community advocates to discuss current police data collection programs and identify high-priority needs to inform a research agenda for developing better metrics in policing and the criminal justice system. Through a series of interviews and group discussion sessions, the research team and participants identified and prioritized a total of 24 needs related to policing data. These highest-priority needs address problems related to creating a culture of data and measurement in policing, finding ways to standardize data collection efforts across key measures, automating data collection and analysis processes, auditing data to ensure validity and reliability, and improving data collection systems. Despite various data collection initiatives, the usability of police data remains significantly limited. Instilling a culture that values data and building the infrastructure to support it are important steps toward achieving better measures of justice. Participants agreed on the importance of comprehensive and intentional plans for integrating data into the tasks of each person and unit throughout an organization; meaningful career pathways, certification and accreditation programs, and a set of standards to foster the professionalization of law enforcement data roles; mechanisms that intentionally integrate civilian data stewards into the larger sworn culture to help agencies leverage data to inform operations and advise on ways to improve data-related processes and procedures; new metrics that capture unmeasured but important aspects of police work; modern, efficient, and user-friendly data tools that agencies can acquire for a reasonable cost; and regular data entry checks or data auditing processes to ensure data validity and reliability.