ROANOKE, Va – Virginia lawmakers and state police are working to make crime data more accessible with a new website.
Last summer, the General Assembly passed the Virginia Community Policing Act, which requires officers to record certain data every time they make a stop. The act led to the creation of the Virginia Data Open Portal, a website that has stop data from Virginia law enforcement agencies from July 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021.
On Friday, state police explained how the website works as well as data that more than 300 agencies have collected in the last year. We were told that information about stops can be broken down into different categories like race, gender and age.
“Governor Northam is committed to building trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve, and this is a really important step in that,” said Governor of Virginia Press Secretary Alena Yarmosky.
Every department in the state is required to submit the data under the guidelines set by the law; however, nine departments didn’t have enough crime or staff to report it, including the town of Boones Mill.