The Police Department is joining the White House’s Police Data Initiative, which launched in May 2015 and includes leading law enforcement agencies, technologists and researchers committed to improving the relationship between citizens and police. In 2014, President Obama launched the Task Force on 21st Century Policing to foster effective collaboration between law enforcement and local communities that reduces crime and increases trust.

Recently, Menlo Park and 52 other law enforcement agencies nationwide agreed to a set of concrete steps that speak to the larger shift in the culture of policing that is at the core of the Task Force’s recommendations. On April 22, 2016, Commander Dixon represented the Menlo Park Police Department at the White House hosted, “The Police Data Initiative Year of Progress: Building on the President’s Call to Action to Leverage Open Data to Increase Trust between Police and Citizens.” Within the coming months, the Police Department will begin publicly releasing data sets via the City’s open data portal.