Law enforcement agencies should establish a culture of transparency and accountability in order to build public trust and legitimacy. This will help ensure decision making is understood and in accord with stated policy.
1.3.1 Make policies available online; publish data about stops, arrests, and trends.
SPPD committed to the 21st Century Report
In 2016, the Saint Paul Police Department, under the leadership of newly appointed Chief of Police Todd Axtell, committed to measuring its policies, practices, performance and all other functions against the standards and beliefs outlined in the six pillars of the Final Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing.
The main theme of the report is the importance of transparency. To that end, the department published this comprehensive and detailed report card to highlight both department strengths and growth areas so that it can represent the highest of standards in American policing in the 21st century.
This document chronicles the current state of the department and will evolve as the department continues to move ahead to achieve the highest possible standards.
The 21st Century website was first published in March 2017, and we continue to maintain and update our progress regularly.
Task Status: Established Practice
1.3.1 Make policies available online; publish data about stops, arrests, and trends.
SPPD publishes the department manual online
Saint Paul Police Department’s policies are posted and available online. All policy updates will be posted as revisions occur.
Established 2014
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Task Status: Established Practice
1.3.1 Make policies available online; publish data about stops, arrests, and trends.
SPPD posts crime data online weekly
Saint Paul crime data is posted online and updated weekly.
Established 2010
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Task Status: Established Practice
1.3.1 Make policies available online; publish data about stops, arrests, and trends.
SPPD posts workforce demographics online
The City of Saint Paul (Human Resources) posts workforce demographics online.
Published 2015
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Task Status: Established Practice
1.3.1 Make policies available online; publish data about stops, arrests, and trends.
SPPD will become even more transparent
The Saint Paul Police Department has partnered with the Office of Technology and Communication (OTC) to research how it can become even more transparent. The development of a new records management system creates an opportunity to capture data that can be shared with the public. The primary goal in this project is to capture and share datasets to promote transparency, legitimacy and trust.
The department and OTC works to connect this data to the city's Information Saint Paul data sharing platform- including use of force data.
The department now releases traffic stop data annually- including the reason for the stop.
St. Paul police release 15 years of traffic stop data (story with video)
KSTP-TV | Dec. 14, 2016
Task Status: Upcoming
1.3.2 Communicate with citizens and the media about critical incidents swiftly, openly, and neutrally, respecting areas where the law requires confidentiality.
SPPD communicates critical incidents
The Saint Paul Police Department’s public information officers (PIO’s) respond to all critical incidents and communicate with the media to release details as allowed by law.
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Task Status: Established Practice
1.3.2 Communicate with citizens and the media about critical incidents swiftly, openly, and neutrally, respecting areas where the law requires confidentiality.
SPPD uses social media
The Saint Paul Police Department uses social media to communicate critical information, updates and alerts with city stakeholders.
Please follow us:
Twitter @sppdmn Facebook
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Task Status: Established Practice
1.3 Law enforcement agencies should establish a culture of transparency and accountability in order to build public trust and legitimacy. This will help ensure decision making is understood and in accord with stated policy.
SPPD Note
The Saint Paul Police Department supports state and local leaders choosing to further this work, which is vital to public expectations for information and transparency, by providing funding for expanded local data analytics relating to stops, arrests, crime trends, and community impact.
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Not Applicable
Task Status: Not Applicable