Proposal requiring Pittsburgh police to share race, gender data for incidents moves forward

Pittsburgh City Council on Wednesday advanced legislation that would require Pittsburgh police to improve their data collection and publicly share how certain incidents are handled, with demographic breakdowns.

Under the proposal, recommended by the Pittsburgh Community Task Force for Police Reform last October, city police would collect data including information on pedestrian stops, use of force and physical restrains; citations and warnings issued; misdemeanor and felony arrests; and reasons for traffic stops.

That data would be published and disaggregated, meaning it would be broken down to show data specifically relating to certain demographics such as race and gender.

For example, people could search through the data to compare how often white women are asked to exit their vehicles during traffic stops as compared to Black men.

The data would be provided in plain language and be easy to search, according to the proposed legislation.

The measure aims to offer greater transparency and help local leaders understand how to tackle important public safety issues, Councilwoman Erika Strassburger, a co-sponsor on the bill, has said. Using the data could better inform officials of where there are problems, she said.

The Department of Public Safety is “fully supportive” of the measure, department spokeswoman Cara Cruz said.

“The Pittsburgh Bureau of Police is committed to providing as much information and transparency as possible about the work they do, which is why Public Safety is investing in new technology that would allow police to create databases to provide the information the public has been asking for,” Cruz said.

She did not offer specifics about how much the investment in new technology might cost.

City Council on Wednesday unanimously advanced the measure without further discussion. It could gain final approval by council as early as next week.