During the last two years, several state entities have made efforts to become more transparent to the general public.  One example of these efforts is the recently announced Department of Justice OpenJustice website, which presents interactive criminal justice data accessible by the general public and media.  A statewide transparency initiative is also planned for 2016-17, which will collect and distribute selected state government data.

POST executive management determined that the release of certain aggregated statewide data would be beneficial to law enforcement’s relationship with the communities they are sworn to protect, as well as to illustrate the accomplishments and challenges present in modern law enforcement training.

The OpenData site presents three primary types of data: Employment, Training, and Demographics.  Each of these presents easy-to-interpret, interactive charts containing information for the past thirty years on California’s peace officers and public safety dispatchers.  Additionally, for those who wish further analysis, a Data Resources area provides a downloadable format and links to several law-enforcement related sites.

All information is limited to the state level, and analyzed by various demographic categories.  No information regarding specific individuals or law enforcement agencies is presented.

At launch, the site contains:

• Employment Data:
  • Number of peace officers employed in California
  • Ratio of California population to peace officers
  • Number of peace officers appointed yearly
  • Average length of employment
  • Number of public safety dispatchers employed
  • Ratio of peace officers to public safety dispatchers
• Training Data:
  • Hours of Continuing Professional Training attended each year
  • Average hours of Continuing Professional Training attended per officer each year
• Demographic Data:
  • Ethnicity of California peace officers
  • Gender of California peace officers
  • Age of California peace officers
  • Average age and years of service per officer each year

The OpenData site has been accessed approximately 2,100 times at the time of this item's writing.  POST Staff will regularly update the site with new statistics and information as it becomes available. 

This project is supported by POST Strategic Plan Objective C.1 California law enforcement agencies are knowledgeable and aware of POST products and services, and C.2 The POST brand is distinct and identifiable across all products, resources, and media.