Police treat field data as evidence, which blocks its use for systemic self-audit

Evidence

To fully unlock the power of routinely collected data, the broader understanding and norms around what this information is and what its purposes are must shift. Many law enforcement agencies conceive of the information they collect, such as forms about stops or arrest reports, as evidence. Evidence is something that can be called upon during an investigation or court proceedings to shed light on a specific case. In these contexts, evidence is typically used to exonerate or incriminate, which makes evidence collection a sensitive 55 Implicit Bias, the Power of Institutions, and How to Reduce Racial Disparities issue. — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 422

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s interest in institutional knowledge systems and how conceptual framing shapes what data can do — echoes themes from law merchant institutions and social capital reading.