Photo Release: Attorney General Kamala D. Harris Convenes 21st Century Policing Working Group After First Year Anniversary of its Creation

Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Contact: (916) 210-6000, agpressoffice@doj.ca.gov

SACRAMENTO – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today convened the 21st Century Policing Working Group to mark the one-year anniversary of the group’s formation, report on accomplishments to date, and discuss future goals.

Attorney General Harris created the 21st Century Policing Working Group in January 2015 to improve peace officer training, promote data driven accountability, and build trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.

The Attorney General met with the group of law enforcement leaders ahead of the release of OpenJustice 1.1. On February 11, 2016, OpenJustice 1.1 will give the public access to a variety of new features, data and information on the state’s criminal justice system. The new data will include visual tools and interactive charts to allow users to compare and cross reference county and agency data sets against statewide averages, and local crime data. 

OpenJustice is a first-of-its-kind criminal justice open data initiative that releases unprecedented data while being interactive and easy to use. The tool consists of two components: a Dashboard that spotlights key criminal justice indicators with user-friendly visualization tools and an Open Data Portal that publishes raw data from the California Department of Justice’s statewide repository of criminal justice datasets.

OpenJustice embraces transparency in the criminal justice system to strengthen trust, enhance government accountability, and inform public policy. Recent events in California and across the nation have highlighted the need for an important conversation to take place between law enforcement & the communities we are sworn to protect.

The working group also discussed results of the Attorney General’s course on principled policing and implicit bias, which was offered for peace officers statewide in November, and developed a set of shared principles around body worn cameras.

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