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Commission reviews early data on consent-search policy; calls for deeper analysis and possible academic partnership
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Summary
The commission discussed early data on Montgomery County's new consent-search policy, noting that available six‑month figures are limited and disparities persist. Members urged a deeper, risk‑adjusted analysis and discussed seeking outside academic help to identify better benchmarks than census data.
Commissioners reviewed staff updates and a public-safety work session on the county’s revised consent-search policy and agreed the available six-month dataset is too small to draw firm conclusions about disparities.
Why it matters: Commissioners said the question of how to benchmark police stops and searches — census data versus alternative ‘risk‑adjusted’ measures — is central to evaluating disparities. Several members urged the data subcommittee to pursue a technical analysis and consider partnering with academic researchers to develop better comparison benchmarks.
Francisco Gonzalez, who watched the July work session, said the presentation showed “disparities remain,” but added that “the available data set since the policy was changed remains too small to provide confidence on whatever conclusions you can draw.” Susan (commission staff) outlined the problems with relying solely on census data and described San Francisco’s layered‑benchmark approach — including benchmarking against drivers involved in not‑at‑fault crashes and a risk‑adjusted disparity index — as an example the commission could consider.
Commissioners proposed three follow-ups: the data subcommittee will catalog MPD data sources, explore alternative benchmarks and recommend whether the commission should request a formal, independent analysis. Henry offered to contact academic contacts (John Jay College of Criminal Justice) to explore possible pro bono or graduate‑student support. The commission did not adopt a formal requirement to change benchmarking methods but agreed next steps should include outreach to researchers and further review of MPD’s implementation and supervision of the new policy.
