CPLE Summit

New York City -- The Russell Sage Foundation, the Consortium for Police Leadership in Equity, UCLA, and the Denver Police Department (DPD) are making a public announcement following their joint conference examining new ways for police departments to improve data gathering and practices to improve racial and gender equity – especially in the areas of racial bias in officers’ decision to shoot, gender equity in officer retention, efficacy of diversity training and racial bias in use of force – attended by high-level representatives from 14 cities:

At the conference, leaders from the law enforcement community will learn about a model program developed in the Denver Police Department that has produced significant advances in racial and gender equity in policing, with the stated intention of expanding the program to these additional cities.

“For the past three years, the Consortium has worked jointly with the Denver Police Department to conduct research on racial bias in officers' decision to shoot, gender equity in officer retention, the efficacy of diversity training in its police academy, and racial bias in use of force.  We are very happy to announce that Denver is being joined in this unprecedented research effort by five other police departments: Denton (TX), Houston, Los Angeles County, Salt Lake City, Toronto." said Phillip Atiba Goff, Ph.D., Russell Sage Foundation Visiting Scholar, Assistant Professor of Psychology at UCLA, and Executive Director of Research for the Consortium. Eight other cities—Nashville, Newark, Edmonton, Portland, Milwaukee, San Jose, Seattle, and Virginia Beach—attended the summit and have expressed their enthusiasm about joining.  Cleveland, Indianapolis, Las Vegas and Chicago, whose representatives were not able to attend the summit, have also expressed interest in joining.

The DPD has responded to overwhelming requests for a larger dialogue about this exciting new initiative by agreeing to host a town hall meeting during the 2009 International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference, in Denver this October.The town hall format will allow law enforcement agencies to learn about the unique collaborative research opportunities the Consortium offers—all of which are free of cost to the agency.

“This initiative represents a huge opportunity to change law enforcement culture. By choosing to participate, departments are making an unprecedented commitment to transparency and accountability in the areas of racial and gender equity,” said Tracie L. Keesee, Ph.D., Division Chief of Research, Training, and Technology with the DPD and Executive Director of Operations for the Consortium.

Participating departments will—for the first time—provide independent researchers with unprecedented collaborative opportunities using police resources and records that could help scholars and police come to a better understanding of what underlies racial and gender biases in law enforcement—and how to reduce them.

Gerald R. Whitman, Chief of the DPD said, “The researchers have helped Denver, and I believe they can help the nation.”

High level police executives representing 14 cities attended the February 26, 2009 conference sponsored by the Russell Sage Foundation and learned more about the findings from existing research and presented areas of inquiry they wished to investigate in their own communities. Research institutions participating in the Consortium include Harvard University, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The Pennsylvania State University, Rutgers University, Stanford University, UCLA, University of Chicago, University of Colorado, Boulder, University of Denver, and Yale University. 

For more information about the conference, go to: http://www.policingequity.org.