Camden County police have yet to post promised data online

Camden County Police say they delayed joining a national data-sharing project because of other priorities, but plan to join the system within the next six months.

In May 2015, then-President Barack Obama traveled to Camden to promote the federal Police Data Initiative, linking 21 police agencies across the country – including Camden's and Philadelphia's  – to publicly share on their websites data detailing trends such as officer-involved shootings, uses of force, and vehicle stops. Experts say sharing that data publicly can expose potential unfair policing practices while also improving relations between police and communities.

But more than two years later, there is still no data portal available for the Camden County Police Department, making it the only one of the original 21 agencies that doesn't have a portal. The department doesn't offer any data on its website.

Dan Keashen, a spokesman for the Camden County Police Department, said the data project has taken a backseat to other initiatives the department has pursued over the last two years, such as replacing its computer-aided dispatch system and equipping officers with body cameras.

Keashen added, though, that the department was "committed to working on the portal project," saying he expected a portal to be available within the next six months.

"We're not Philadelphia. We're a midlevel police department, so we don't have expansive resources," Keashen said. "We've had to pick and choose what we prioritize."

Keashen also noted that members of the public can request data and other information through New Jersey's Open Public Records Act.

In the two years since the Police Data Initiative was launched, the program has expanded to include more than 130 agencies. Data categories range from accident reports to officer-involved shootings.

Participating departments aren't required to share any specific type of data and, as a result, there are discrepancies in the amounts of data each shares.

But of the original 21 agencies, all of them except Camden County's share at least some data. Fifteen of them share data on officer uses of force, officer-involved shootings or both. Thirteen share information on either traffic stops or arrests. Other than Camden, the Oakland Police Department in California is the only department of the original 21 agencies that does not share data in any of those categories, though it does share crime data.

The Philadelphia Police Department shares data on vehicle and pedestrian stops as well as officer-involved shootings, but not on uses of force.

The Austin Police Department in Texas is among the agencies sharing the most information, including details on uses of force, traffic stops, and officer-involved shootings. Its officer-involved-shooting portal, for example, breaks down the date and time of the shooting, the location, the shooting victim's race and gender, the weapon used, and more.

"I believe by being transparent and putting the data out very publicly, it provides the public with a way to look inside their department to ensure that we are providing them all the information that they need in an," said Troy Gay, assistant chief of the Austin Police Department.

Sam Walker, a criminal justice professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha who is nationally recognized for his work in police accountability, said such openness from police departments often increases the public's trust in those officers. "Or at least it diminishes the distrust," he said.

Sharing information publicly can also reveal when departments have unfair policing practices. Extensive data about traffic stops, for example, can alert the public if and when racial bias is at play, said David McGuire, an expert in police accountability and the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut.

In Connecticut, when police pull someone over on the road, they must record information about the stop, whom they stopped and whether they searched the car, among other things, McGuire added.

"In some communities it's done a lot to put to bed concerns about unfair policing," he said. "In others, it's shown that there are, in fact, problems."

The Cincinnati Police Department is another of the more transparent agencies participating in the data initiative. The department has detailed information available about its officers' uses of force and officer-involved shootings. Similar to Austin, its portals for those two categories include the time and location of each incident, the victim's race and gender, the weapon used, and more.

Lt. Paul Neudigate, the department's assistant chief, said the agency is "always trying to be as transparent as we can."

Neudigate added that he believes every police department should be as open with its data as Cincinnati, saying that police need to be held accountable to the communities they serve.

"I know that there are still large agencies out there that don't post their data," he said. "Why not? Put it out there. It just makes it easier."