NSF Award
2328509
A forum on “Statistical Challenges in the Analysis of Police Use of Force” will be hosted at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota on November 9-10, 2023. Analysis of data regarding force used by police presents a number of statistical challenges that can, if not addressed carefully, lead to an incomplete or inaccurate understanding of the issues. This can in turn hamper or improperly redirect reform efforts, damage the credibility of advocacy campaigns, and alienate the communities most directly impacted by the use of force by police. This forum is part of a larger series of workshops hosted by the National Institute of Statistical Sciences (NISS) in a forum series titled “Statistics Serving Society.” This series seeks to address urgent issues of statistical importance in society. Past forum topics have included algorithmic fairness, unplanned disruptions to clinical trials during COVID-19, and privacy-preserving methodologies. The Fall 2023 forum will result in collaborative research that is aimed at improving evidence-based policy on policing in urban and rural areas. Practitioners and community partners will further motivate the work being conducted and the resulting output of the forum. Engagement of both undergraduate and graduate students will be incorporated into the forum.<br/><br/>This in-person forum will highlight the unique approaches and perspectives developed by scholars working in this area, in order to build a deeper understanding of the issues and to improve the quality of evidence used to inform reform efforts. The range of obstacles and data limitations present in police use of force data make it a particularly challenging area to study, with issues including data quality and completeness, processing of unstructured data, privacy concerns, and statistical challenges in analyzing fairness. These issues are present in the study of other important social phenomena, and the knowledge gained through this exchange can improve research on related urgent social issues. This forum will also foster interdisciplinary collaboration between its proposed audience of statisticians, community members, activists, social scientists, policymakers, and law enforcement professionals. Such collaboration can lead to the development of innovative, data-driven approaches to address the complex issue of police use of force. Link: https://www.niss.org/events/iof-workshop-statistical-challenges-analysis-police-use-force<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
