During the last few years, several state entities have made efforts to become more transparent to the general public. One example of these efforts is the Department of Justice OpenJustice Website, which presents interactive criminal justice data accessible by the general public and media.

POST launched the OpenData Website in December 2015. The POST executive management agreed 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 Website data has been updated to include 2015 and 2016 data.

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.

The OpenData site has been accessed approximately 10,700 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.