Eugene Police Department is moving ahead with the SunGard module testing phase of the Professional Stops Pilot Project, with a target date for beginning data collection in January 2018.
The Professional Stops Project, initiated in 2013, is a data collection system that includes racial data for traffic stops. The racial data entered is based upon the officer’s observation.
While the dates for testing and implementation may need to be adjusted, the initial timeline for the project includes:
May or June 2017 – identify and select 10 officers to test the new SunGard module. The officers will be sharing a tablet to test the data entry software.
October through November 2017 - train all sworn personnel
December 2017 - EPD officers to have practice opportunity for 30 days before data collection begins.
January 2018 - data collection target
In the long term, EPD will be contracting with SunGard to make an enhancement to the module to allow “permissions” be assigned for the mobile environment. This will allow administrative control over the variety of groups that use mobiles. The estimated cost of this enhancement is around $7,000.
BACKGROUND
The data collection system for this program was planned for during the City of Eugene’s 2012 purchase of SunGard, the new public safety system that replaced the mainframe system in use for approximately half a century. During this purchase, a module for data collection regarding traffic and person stops was included, along with other modules needed for other tasks. SunGard has been working to build the various modules purchased by the participating cities.
The Police Commission served in an advisory capacity with both the pilot program and professional stops policy.
While awaiting the professional stops module, on December 1, 2015, EPD tested a different data collection system, using an iPhone application to collect traffic stop data by a small group of officers to document discretionary traffic stops to help determine the best way to collect data, what kind of systems to use, and the possible costs in labor and money to do this. After the first six months, EPD assessed the app for needed changes and continued the testing for another six months. The project in 2015 focused solely on the use of smart-phone technology. The results helped determine the app was not the optimal collection method at this time, and SunGard has since provided the professional stops module for EPD to test.
Much work by Eugene Police, Police Commission and community groups and individuals has gone into developing this program and accompanying policy. EPD worked to consolidate guidance to officers in the new Professional Stops policy, which was developed following recommendations by the Police Commission. EPD also prepared a pilot project to collect and analyze demographic data on vehicle stops. The pilot project and policy development processes have included a panel of community experts and people with first-hand experience of bias, and a public forum to gather input from members of our community. EPD consulted with a number of technical experts for advice on software design and implementation. These individuals include officers, representatives from K-12 schools, higher education, ACLU, NAACP and the governor’s Law Enforcement Contacts Commission. EPD included the Department of Justice best-practices for this program.
Chief Pete Kerns has been a member of the Governor’s Law Enforcement Contacts Commission, which is the body that implements legislation related to biased policing. In September 2016, the commission discussed reporting of racial profiling complaints, basic academy training on implicit bias and data collection. The future of policing may include mandatory statewide data collection. Some states have already done this.