Police in Portland and South Portland have asked for a yearlong, outside review to evaluate their departments’ recent history of policing related to race.
The study will evaluate police use of force and citations by demographics from 2018 to 2020. Researcher Sarah Goan’s team at the University of Southern Maine will develop protocols for the departments to continue similar reviews going forward.
“I think the lens that I and my team bring is really how to make this a sustainable methodology that the department can continue to replicate in future years to continue to monitor and gauge their own progress toward these goals of ending racial disparity and bias if there is any that they uncover,” she says. “I hope what we’re able to accomplish with this project is to produce a set of metrics and reliable methods that everyone feels comfortable and confident in going forward as a reliable way of monitoring the work of the department.”
Portland Police Chief Frank Clark says he reached out to the universities to start a conversation about taking a closer look at the demographic data of police actions last fall.
“It’s all about being transparent. It’s about holding ourselves accountable, and moving forward,” he says.
Frank says the study will better position the department to understand how police policy and actions add up.
“The way I look at it is we have nothing to hide, here in the police department. Opening up our doors to this independent review of the data by data and academic professionals is only going to help us have a better understanding of what the data means,” he says.
USM will partner with the Roux Institute at Northeastern in Portland on the 12-month-long analysis.