How can we create actionable change in our communities without equitable stakeholder participation?
That was the driving question at the Big Data & Community Policing 2020 Stakeholder Meeting in October 2019. In the room were community leaders, representatives from nonprofits, law enforcement, faith leaders, and lived experience experts, all gathered to prepare for MEASURE’s 5th Annual Big Data & Community Policing Conference, which will be held at the University of San Diego on January 10-11, 2020.
Led by Founder and President Meme Styles, MEASURE is an Austin-based nonprofit with a mission to use data and education to empower communities to eliminate disparities, whether it be in health, education, or criminal justice. The goal of the upcoming Big Data & Community Policing Conference is to engage stakeholders from disadvantaged communities in a conversation, from which they have traditionally been left out. This conversation began at the Stakeholder Meeting in October, and included discussion on topics such as police-community relations, and how some youth feel that they have been targeted and datafied rather than supported or provided with prevention-oriented services.
The January conference will continue this conversation, and cover topics such as the CalGang database, racial profiling, surveillance cameras in San Diego, community policing, and officer wellness. There is room for growth in each of these areas, which will be brought to light by the diverse stakeholders in the room. To help facilitate this growth, each session will provide attendees with new tools for moving forward, including the skills and knowledge needed to collect, interpret, and utilize data, and to create actionable solutions for their communities. Panel discussions including representatives from law enforcement, faith backgrounds, technology, research and advocacy will explore community policing, what it means, what it looks like in practice, and how data can be used to inform community policing. To learn more about the conference and RSVP, please visit www.measureaustin.org/bdcp.