Cohort 2023

Center for Policing Equity

Reimagining Public Safety and the Role of Data-Informed Community Engagement

St. Louis, MO

Public safety involves more than just policing—it includes reducing points of entry into the criminal legal system and addressing systemic racism and other inequities that destabilize communities. Some cities, like St. Louis (PDF), have invested in community organizations and other nonpolice entities, shifting some services away from police agencies. Moreover, research has shown that centering the voices of community members, particularly Black and Latine people, can generate more equitable budget reallocation efforts. The Center for Policing Equity works across the United States leveraging research to redesign public safety systems to be equitable, effective, and sustainable with Data-Informed Community Engagement (DICE). DICE is an evidence-based, community-centered approach that empowers communities to cocreate equitable public safety strategies through data analysis that is transparent, effective, and tailored to local problems. As part of this approach, the Center for Policing Equity also implements local public safety collaboratives with partnerships in the community, government, and law enforcement to gain a holistic understanding of local public safety challenges and potential solutions.

With Catalyst Grant funding, the Center for Policing Equity and Simsi will support the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis and will collaborate with the City of St. Louis, law enforcement, and vulnerable communities to use DICE to redesign St. Louis’s system of public safety. DICE will support the implementation of a St. Louis Public Safety Collaborative to diagnose crime patterns, prioritize locations for intervention, and coordinate programs that are pragmatic, impactful, and connected to lived experiences. Ultimately, this project will bring awareness to potential areas for improvement, maximize resources to improve public safety outcomes in St. Louis, and elevate lessons learned nationally through the Center for Policing Equity’s network of public safety collaboratives.