Resources

High-profile cases of police violence — disproportionately experienced by black men — may present a serious threat to public safety if they lower citizen crime reporting. This report analyzes how one of Milwaukee’s most publicized cases of police violence against an unarmed black man, the beating of Frank Jude, affected police-related 911 calls, and found that residents of Milwaukee’s neighborhoods, especially residents of Black neighborhoods, were far less likely to report crime after Jude’s beating was broadcast. The effect lasted for over a year and resulted in a total net loss of approximately 22,200 calls for service. Other local and national cases of police violence against unarmed black men also had a significant impact on citizen crime reporting in Milwaukee. Police misconduct can powerfully suppress one of the most basic forms of civic engagement: calling 911 for matters of personal and public safety.

With the rise of violent crime in the 1990s the New York City Police Department (NYPD) turned to proactive policing practices. Perhaps the most known of these practices is Stop, Question, and Frisk, known as Stop and Frisk. The practice had a disparate impact on the black and Hispanic community of New York City as the two groups represent more than 80% of all stops. Results of data analysis in this report lead to the conclusion that Stop and Frisk is an uneven policing practice that carries racial bias.

Given the profound distrust between Portlanders and their police department and the struggles that Portland has had with historical police repression and contemporary collaboration with violent right winger hate groups, the time seems ripe for a reconsideration of policing in Portland. This is video of a panel discussion to imagine a world beyond policing.

Through the last year and a half, MuckRock and Lucy Parsons Lab have used FOIA to investigate the use of surveillance equipment by the Chicago Police Department (CPD). Through multiple FOIA requests and lawsuits, the team has demonstrated the CPD’s purchase and use of controversial “Stingray” cellphone surveillance devices among other new surveillance technologies. The work has also shown that Chicago Police have been acting in “bad faith” in fulfilling the FOIA requests. This project page gives preliminary data on the issue and asks for assistance in compiling more information.

MTA representatives often claim the “problem” of fare evasion can be policed away. No credible evidence supports this narrative. This report and accompanying data map analyzes subway stations and their surrounding neighborhoods where fare evasion enforcement occurred in 2017-2018. Though this was before the public face of any fare evasion crackdown began, the data shows 24,788 subway fare evasion enforcement actions over this period.

Researchers reevaluate the claim from Bor et al. (2018) that “police killings of unarmed Black Americans have effects on mental health among Black American adults in the general population.” The Mapping Police Violence data used by the authors misclassified 93 incidents and note that correctly recoding these incidents eliminated the reported statistically significant effect of exposure to police killings of unarmed Black individuals on the mental health of Black Americans in the general population.

In this report, researchers examined data on police killings with individual-level data to estimate the impact of police killings of unarmed Black Americans on self-reported mental health of other Black American adults in the US general population. Results support the idea that police killings of unarmed Black Americans have adverse effects on mental health among Black American adults in the general population. Researchers also recommend implementing programs to decrease the frequency of police killings and to mitigate negative mental health effects within communities when such killings occur.

This report presents the results of a landmark research study that examined depictions of the criminal justice system – as well as portrayals of people of color, women and issues of race – in popular American crime TV shows. The study included 26 different scripted series focused on crime from the 2017-2018 season, broadcast on both networks and streaming platforms.

The Office of Police Oversight, Office of Innovation, and the Equity Office engaged in data analysis to understand how various ethnic/racial groups in Austin experience Austin Police Department (APD) motor vehicle stops. The report examines APD motor vehicle stop data from 2015-2018 and offers recommendations where disproportionality exists based on race/ethnicity.