Legislation would require Pittsburgh police to share data on handling of incidents by race, gender

Pittsburgh police would be required to improve data collection and publicly share breakdowns of how certain incidents are handled with regard to the race and gender of suspects, under legislation introduced Tuesday by City Council.

Last October, a report by the Pittsburgh Community Task Force for Police Reform recommended that city police take additional steps to make incident-related data more easily accessible.

Data that would be collected under the proposed legislation includes information regarding pedestrian stops, use of force and physical restraints, citations issued, warnings issued, misdemeanor and felony arrests and reasons for traffic stops.

“It’s a long time in coming,” said Councilwoman Erika Strassburger, who co-sponsored the bill with Councilman Corey O’Connor.

The data would be analyzed and disaggregated, meaning it would be broken down to show data specifically relating to certain demographics.

“Disaggregating data is so important because it allows the public to understand, in this case, the breakdown of use of force or stops or citations issued based on any kind of searchable category from gender to race to age to any publicly available information,” Strassburger said.

For example, she said people could use the data to compare how often white women are asked to exit their vehicle during a traffic stop as compared to Black men.

“That’s a really important way to be able to search for data,” she said.

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

Providing and disaggregating data in this way, Strassburger said, not only provides for greater public transparency, but also allows local leaders to better understand how they can tackle important public safety issues.

“We were reminded on council — and the public at large — just how far we have to go to be able to make public safety truly safe for everybody, regardless of your race or your background or where you live,” Strassburger said. “The first step in doing so is to have the data, to know what you’re dealing with.”