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106 Geo. L.J. Online 1 (2017)

handle is hein.journals/gljon106 and id is 1 raw text is: OPEN DATA POLICING CYNTHIA H. CONTI-COOK* ABSTRACT More than any other promised police reform, the public would benefit from the government adopting an open data philosophy towards police accountability data. Open data in the context of public policy is the philosophy that when the government provides people access to its process, decision-making, and data, a more effective ecosystem for innovation and development results. Body cameras have been introduced across the country as the manifestation of transparent policing meant to restore the public's trust in police following multiple murders of unarmed young men and women of color nationwide. However, as Professor Simonson writes in her essay, Beyond the Body Camera: Defending a Robust Right to Record the Police, the body camera footage is created, stored, organized, and distributed by governmental agencies that continue controlling the narrative about police conduct. 2 In this article, I elaborate on Professor Simonson's observation about governmental control over the narrative. I also discuss diverging approaches to public access to body camera footage from Seattle, which has embraced an open data model,3 to Minnesota, where restrictions on public access to police data are being introduced for the first time through legislative regulations. On a more optimistic note, I will also discuss non- governmental efforts to subvert that control by cataloging and reporting on police accountability data. The seriousness and wealth of the information collected and shared through these efforts stands in sharp contrast to the dearth of police accountability data being disseminated by the government. INTRODUCTION Open data in the context of public policy is the philosophy that when the government provides people access to its process, decision-making, Staff Attorney, Special Litigation Unit of The Legal Aid Society. Thanks & acknowledgments for edits to: Josh Norkin, Davim Horowitz, Steve Silberman, lan Mance, Craig Futterman, Jason Tashea, Renate Lunn, Adam Marshall, Steve Zeidman, Nikki Zeichner, Patrick Ball, Stephanie Ashley and William Gibney. 1. Jason Tashea, Emerging Justice Technologies and the Need for Evaluation, JOHN JAY COLL. CRIM. JUST. RES. & EVALUATION CTR. 2 (Jan. 20, 2016), https://perma.cc/LN8E-3XWD. 2. See Jocelyn Simonson, Beyond Body Cameras: Defending a Robust Right to Record the Police, 104 GEO. L. J. 1559, 1567 (2016). 3. See SPD Launches YouTube Channel for Bodyworn Video, SPD BLOTTER (Feb. 25, 2015), https://perma.cc/U2RM-NAV7.

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