Pittsburgh police now required to publish incident data with race, gender breakdowns

PITTSBURGH — According to a newly approved piece of legislation, Pittsburgh police will be required to publish data about certain incidents with breakdowns by demographics like race and gender.

On Tuesday, City Council approved the resolution directing the Bureau of Police to take immediate steps to improve its data collection and publication, including information on pedestrian stops; use of force and physical restraints; citations and warnings issued; misdemeanor and felony arrests; and reasons for traffic stops, according to our news partners at the Trib.

That data will be publicly available and broken down in plain language to show data specifically relating to certain demographics, including race and gender and will be easily searchable.

The Pittsburgh Community Task Force for Police Reform recommended the measure last October. The Department of Public Safety is “fully supportive” of the measure, department spokeswoman Cara Cruz said last week.

This information will help officials identify potential racial profiling — and help determine how best to fix such systemic problems, she said.

They will be investing in new technology to help with collecting, disaggregating and publishing the data, she said. She did not offer details regarding how much that investment in new technology might cost.

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